Nobody's Fault
by Lokrume
Summary: Sometimes, things happen. Bad things, that weren't supposed to happen. Mikey has always been the happy party dude who loves driving his brothers crazy. He's never sad. But when something happens that changes that, the brothers are left with a side of Mikey they have never dealt with before. /See Author's Note for details.
1. Chapter 1

**[EDIT: **As of the 1th of September 2014, this chapter has been checked for grammatical errors and typos. A HUGE thanks to n00btmntfan for the help!]

**Author's Note:** In this story, we get to explore a side of Mikey that isn't just the adorable jokester and party dude we all know. The story will have the same humor and feeling as the show with only a slightly darker touch. And don't worry, you'll definitely recognize Mikey. I hope you'll enjoy it! ^-^

(Also, I had my sister test reading this. She wanted me to warn sensitive readers that the ending of this chapter "could" be a bit of a tearjerker. But I'll let you be the judge of that. ^^)

* * *

"No, go right! Go right!" Donnie coached, without taking his eyes off the hovering object. "And then down a little bit-"

"Chillax, bro. I got this," Mikey replied, with a reassuring hand gesture. "Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

Mikey pressed a button on the remote control and made the small hot air balloon move forward, cruising through the air in the lair. The balloon was made out of a bunch of different pieces of cloth sewn together, everything from handkerchiefs to underwear, whilst the motor looked suspiciously like a hair dryer with a propeller attached.

"Now, remember that there is some delay when moving backwards, so if he lashes out, it's better to use left or right in order to avoid-"

"Dude, stop with the backseat flying already. I got _mean_ finger skills. I'm telling you, it's like I was born to fly this thing."

"You didn't even _have_ fingers when you were born. None of us did," Donnie pointed out.

"Tell you what," Mikey said, with his eyes still fixed on the toy. "If I trash this thing, which isn't gonna happen because I'm steering this baby _awesomely_, I'll give you the rest of my extra special pizza with jelly beans, shrimps, sardines, mushrooms and fudge topping."

"When did we have that for dinner?" Donnie asked in confusion.

"A couple of months ago. I've saved a few slices for a special occasion…"

"_That's _the smell that's been coming from your room?!" Donnie asked in shock.

"Yeah…" Mikey said with a blissful expression. "That's what's so great about pizza. After a while, you don't have to _eat it_ to taste it. And heeere we go."

The mini blimp had located its target: Raph. The older turtle was currently too immersed in a game of pinball to notice the airborne company and was determined to beat Leo's long standing high score. The blimp closed in on him and a small barrel emerged from the hair dryer.

"Ok, now!" Donnie whispered to Mikey, with an amused smile.

A tiny pea shot out from the barrel, hitting Raph hard in the neck. Raph instinctively slapped the spot, as if he'd just been bitten by a mosquito, which made him lose focus and miss the ball. Raph cursed and turned around. This time he noticed the mini blimp.

"Oh, how cute. A little stray invention," Raph said, in annoyance. "Did Donnie the Trash-master make ya?"

Mikey grinned and pressed the button several times in a row. The blimp started firing peas crazily at every part of Raph's face, forcing him to cover it with his hand.

"You wanna fight? Is that it?" Raph yelled in anger and brought out his sai and charged at the blimp. "Here! I'll pop you like a zit!"

"Wow... I honestly didn't think he would lose it this quickly," Donnie said in surprise. "Looks to me like someone could use some extra meditation sessions with master Splinter- Whoa! Watch out!"

Raph slashed at the blimp, which narrowly avoided the assault. It sped up and fled the scene, going higher up to avoid Raph's attacks. Raph immediately pursued the toy with murderous intent. He threw a shuriken at the balloon, missing it just slightly thanks to a maneuver by Mikey. Raph growled and jumped after the flying machine, which went higher and higher up to escape. Raph was too busy looking up at the target to notice that he was getting closer to the pool of sewer water. So when the blimp made a sudden left turn, Raph followed it without realizing that the floor ended underneath his feet. Raph landed in the water with a loud splash as the blimp victoriously returned home to its owner.

"Boo-yeah! Safe and sound, and not on the ground!" Mikey laughed and gave Donnie a high five. "Man, I wish I could have seen Raph's face when he landed in the water."

"… Why hasn't he turned up yet?" Donnie asked, still watching the place where Raph fell in.

The two brothers ran over to take a closer look. Mikey cautiously leaned over the edge, searching for any kind of life in the deep water, but there wasn't any. Donnie then noticed a shadow reflecting on the water surface, and the sound of dripping water made him turn around. Raph was standing right behind them both, soaking wet and with a grim look on his face.

"… That's not the face I wanted to see," Mikey said with a terrified look at his older brother.

"Great fun, guys. Great fun," Raph said with a twisted smile. "But now, let's play one of my games instead… I know a good one called 'Raph will break your bones 'til you scream for mercy'. You start screaming, and I'll be Raph..."

"Wait, wait! Stop," Donnie said in protest. "We were not just tormenting you; we were testing my spy-blimp."

"First roaches with video cameras, and now balloons made out of underwear?" Raph asked, in annoyance. "Great! Hey, I can help. I'll show you how to turn someone into a spy-_gimp_!"

"I'm serious," Donnie continued. "I thought we could use something that can check out enemy areas unnoticed before we go in there ourselves. You know, as a safety precaution. It has audio and visual and even a built in radar system that detects any fast moving object within ten feet, like shuriken or other flying projectiles, so that it can avoid them. Pretty cool, huh?"

Raph glared at Donnie with murder eyes, making Donnie back a few steps while scratching his neck.

"So, no hard feelings then?" Donnie asked. "I mean, the pea gun is harmless. Well, fairly harmless. I guess it's technically possible to impair someone's vision in a freak accident, but it was just all in good fun. And we needed an enemy to test it on, so you seemed like the perfect candidate to-"

Raph brought out his sai and pierced the wall behind Donnie with such force that it crumbled a little.

"Mikey was steering." Donnie stated, and pointed at his little brother.

"What?!" Mikey yelled in disbelief. "You traitor! You liar! You- AAAH! No! Raph! Mercy! MERCY!"

Raph darted after Mikey with his weapons drawn, while Mikey tried his best to get as far away from him as possible.

Leo was sitting on the couch watching TV, while doing his best to filter out the chaos that surrounded him. But he couldn't filter out a panicking Mikey who leaped down onto the couch in an attempt to hide behind his older brother. Raph went after him, his weapons still drawn. Leo quickly got up on his feet and used his katana to clash with Raph, stopping him temporarily.

"Back off, Leo!" Raph growled, and tried to push him out of the way. "I'm just gonna cut him up a little!"

"You're not cutting up anyone, and especially not on the couch!" Leo told him. "Or were you planning on shopping for a new one?"

Raph glared at him, but then took a step back and Leo lowered his sword. Raph threw Mikey an angry glance before putting his weapons back in his belt, and returned to the pinball machine. Leo exhaled in relief and sat down on the couch again. Mikey crawled up next to him and stared at Leo in awe.

"Leo… you saved me!" Mikey exclaimed, and aimed for a hug. "Aww, my hero! I knew you'd come through for me, bro!"

"Just doing my job," Leo stated indifferently, and pushed Mikey off the couch.

Mikey landed on the floor, but quickly jumped up again with a disapproving look at Leo. He turned his back on him and spotted Donnie on the other side of the room.

"Hey, Don! Can we try the spy blimp again?" Mikey asked eagerly. "I bet you that I can steer it right between master Splinter's ears without him even noticing."

"In a minute," Donnie answered, as he was fiddling with the wires in the remote control. "I'm just gonna make a few modifications to the main controls, and-"

Donnie was interrupted by a poke on his shoulder. When he turned around, Raph was standing behind him. His face was completely deadpan as he handed over the rest of the balloon. It was neatly shredded in tiny pieces, and was dangling from his sai like a dead snake. Donnie hesitantly picked it up with the look of someone who's dealing with a psychopath. Raph didn't even blink, and then left his brother alone with the broken toy.

"Actually, it's gonna be more than just a few extra modifications," Donnie said, with a glance at the mess of wires and plastic.

"And how long will _that_ take?" Mikey asked.

"Honestly? It might be quicker to build a new one." Donnie answered.

Mikey's gleeful face changed into a sulky one as he sat down on the couch with his arms crossed. He glanced at Leo, who was completely focused on the show. Mikey looked down at the remote control next to Leo and grinned in delight. He sneaked closer to the spot without Leo noticing, and then, quick as cobra, snatched the remote and jumped away from the spot.

"Mikey!" Leo yelled, and turned towards him. "Give that back!"

"Why? I'm just holding it," Mikey said teasingly, and pointed the remote control at the TV screen while holding one finger just above the channel button.

"If you touch one button on that thing, I'll... " Leo started threateningly, but then hesitated. "be… more responsible and grown up than Raph, and not chase you around the lair."

Mikey looked at Leo and blinked.

"I'm not following you," Mikey said.

"Just hand it back, Mikey!"

"Nuh uh! It wouldn't be a game of tag if I just handed it back to you. You have to catch me first. Those are the rules."

"Or, I could ignore your childish act and simply change back manually whenever you try to change the channel." Leo replied, calmly and sat down in the couch again.

Mikey looked annoyed and then started pressing the button repeatedly. Several channels flashed by at extreme speed, making it impossible to distinguish anything but a sea of colors. And it was incredibly annoying. Leo sighed and left the couch with a frustrated glare at Mikey.

"Still want me to back off?" Raph asked curiously from the pinball machine.

Leo looked from Raph to Mikey, and then back to Raph.

"Knock yourself out," Leo stated calmly and sat down again.

"What-HEY!" Mikey yelled and looked at Raph who cracked his neck and grinned menacingly at him before charging towards Mikey. Mikey screamed and jumped over the couch in order to get away. "This is unfair! I don't even have a weapon! THIS IS _SO_ NOT FAIR!"

"Stop running and I promise that I won't hurt you!" Raph screamed back, following him closely.

"LIAR!" Mikey yelled, still holding on to the remote control and jumped up on his skateboard.

With Mikey suddenly on his skateboard, Raph had more trouble keeping up with him. Mikey soon noticed his unexpected advantage and started to laugh nervously as he sped up. He made a lot of sudden turns to confuse Raph and almost lured him down in the water again.

"Hey! THAT is unfair! No skateboarding in the lair!" Raph yelled at Mikey and made a leap for him, but missed just barely.

"Good! Then we're even!" Mikey panted with a smile, but realized too late that he forgot to watch where he was going. The reminder came in the form of a solid pinball machine in Mikey's way, causing him to crash right into it with a nasty crack. A small noise from the machine told the player that he just lost a ball.

Leo and Donnie looked up at the noise and immediately went to check on Mikey. Mikey was lying on the ground beside the machine and was moving slightly. It seemed like the impact had temporarily dazed him. This however didn't stop Raph from landing heavily on Mikey and wrap an arm around his throat while pointing a sai to it.

"Tag, you're 'it,'" Raph said ruthlessly, and kept a strangling grip around Mikey's throat.

"Are you guys okay?" Leo asked, accompanied by Donnie.

"We're fine," Raph said in annoyance. His arm was still around Mikey, who was making noises that sounded far from fine.

"Raph, get off of him!" Leo yelled at Raph, as he and Donnie quickly started pulling the two turtles apart.

"What?" Raph said and tried to shake them off. "So now you're on his side again? Why don't you make up your mind!"

"You don't strangle someone for taking a stupid remote; I shouldn't have to tell you that!" Leo said in annoyance.

"Fine! Have it your way!" Raph said, and finally let go of Mikey. Donnie helped their little brother up on his feet and gave him a pat on the back. Mikey coughed a few times, but other than that, he seemed to be alright. "I just don't get why the two of you have to fuss over him all the time! You're treating him like a baby when he really deserves a punch in the face."

"Of course we do, he's our baby brother," Leo replied, in irritation. "Not to mention yours. You can't beat him up for every annoying thing he does."

"Like accidentally trashing the TV-remote…?" Mikey asked with a nervous smile, and held up the remote. The two batteries were sticking out and a big chunk of plastic was missing.

Leo picked it up and gave the remote a tired look before handing it to Donnie. "Don, do you think you can fix this?"

"Let me see." Donnie said, and turned the object over in his hand. He brought it closer to his eye and studied it carefully before sighing and handing it back to Leo. "There's nothing I can do."

Raph gave Mikey a glare and was just about to slap him over the head, but was interrupted by Donnie, who stepped between them.

"Because there's nothing to fix!" Donnie told them, in irritation. "It's just the lid to the battery hatch that has come off! Anyone with two brain cells and a roll of tape can fix it! Seriously, guys. I'm not asking you to read books about quantum physics. All I ask is _that you read a book_!"

"Oh… That's great!" Leo said with an awkward smile. "Thanks… Donnie."

"Still, it's always Mikey who messes things up around here," Raph continued, with an agitated look. "He's the only one who trashes stuff, makes my life a misery, _and_ turns this place upside down just because he's bored! And I'm tired of you guys protecting him all the time."

"We are not protecting him all the time," Leo told Raph sternly. "But sometimes, you're the one who seriously needs to work on your patience."

"Leo's got a point, you know," Donnie agreed. "I mean, Mikey might be the one who causes all the trouble around here, but you're usually the one bringing all the destruction. It's like the two of you put together becomes an unstoppable force of chaos. … And _that's_ what turns this place upside down."

"Oh, of course! So in the end, everything is my fault!" Raph retorted. "Big surprise!"

"… I don't think that's what I said," Donnie said with a frown.

"Come on, dude… Where's that brotherly love?" Mikey smiled and sneaked up beside Raph and wrapped his arms around him in a heartwarming hug. "I'll share my next pizza with you. Will that make you feel better, bro?"

"Be someone else's brother for a change." Raph said in frustration, and pushed Mikey away. "I'm out of here."

"Well… Maybe I _want_ a new brother!" Mikey told him, in annoyance. "A better brother! Who doesn't try to _cut my throat_ every single day! Actually… I got two who doesn't do that!"

Raph slammed the door to his room without a word, and Leo patted Mikey's shoulder.

"Let him sulk for a while," Leo stated. "When he's in that mood, nothing anyone says is gonna make him feel better. He'll be back to his old, loud, mean self again in an hour or so."

"But speaking of pizza…" Donnie said with a hand on his stomach. "Am I the only one here who's starving?"

"You mean like anchovies, pepperoni, with extra cheese-starving…?" Mikey asked in a much more cheerful voice. "Because I know just the cure-"

Mikey picked up his t-phone, but then hesitated with a confused look.

"… Actually, I don't," Mikey said. "Do you guys have the number to that new pizza place we found last week?"

"Donnie, you make the order," Leo said, and tossed the phone to Donnie. "Mikey, you get the pizza. Maybe the smell will lure the grump out of his room and cheer him up a little. A Raph with food in his stomach is usually the one I prefer to be around anyway…"

* * *

The pizza guy stopped his scooter and stared in confusion. He picked up a notepad and checked the address again. According to it, this was the right place. However, the apartment of the address looked suspiciously abandoned. Not to mention that the whole building looked like it was about to be demolished. There was even a ready bulldozer parked beside it.

He got off his vehicle and picked up a steaming box from the back. He then walked up to the door and was just about to knock when he noticed an envelope pinned to the door. The text on the front said "To Pizza Dude".

He frowned but opened it anyway. Inside it were some money and a note:

Hi Pizza Guy  
Here Is Money  
Leave Pizza Here  
Don't Look Back  
Your Job Is Awesome By The Way

"Um… Thanks?" The pizza guy said with a semi-smile and put down the pizza on the doorstep, but kept the note and the money. He sat up on his scooter and looked back at the apartment, only to discover that the pizza box was gone. He boggled his eyes and looked around everywhere, but didn't see a soul that could have taken it. After a minute, he just shook his head and drove off.

On the rooftop above sat Mikey. He glanced down at the deliverer while inhaling the fumes of the pizza with a blissful smile.

"Haaah…" Mikey sighed and jumped over to the next roof.

As Mikey skillfully leaped from building to building, he couldn't help but throwing longing looks at the box he was carrying. The warmth of the box was melting his heart and the scent of the deliciousness made him drool…

Mikey never had very good self-discipline. He suddenly stopped in his tracks and sat down with the box. He opened it in anticipation and stared at the glistening cheese and pepperoni inside.

"… Okay, Michelangelo. Just _one_ slice," Mikey told himself, and picked up a piece. "You can't concentrate with an empty stomach. Even Splinter says so. … Or, I bet he has. At some point. I should ask Leo."

Mikey licked his lips and was just about to take a bite of the slice when he heard a noise from below the building. Mikey listened closely. It sounded like a couple of people laughing. But Mikey didn't like the sound of their laughter… Not one bit.

Mikey left the pizza and sneaked up to the edge of the roof and looked down at the guys below him. It took a moment before he realized what was going on, and his eyes widened in horror at the scene. He wished that he hadn't looked.

* * *

Leo was standing in the middle of the dojo. His katanas were lying on the floor beside him, and he was wearing a blindfold. Donnie was standing a few feet behind him, leaning against his staff.

"Is this really necessary?" Donnie asked with a sigh. "If you want to spend your free time training, that's fine. But I don't get why _your_ training has to include _me_."

"Because I can't attack myself now, can I?" Leo said, and took on a fighting pose. "This is good training for both of us. Try to come at me with your staff, and I'll try to block it."

"Let me get this straight. This is really what you want to do for the next ten minutes?" Donnie asked in disbelief.

"For the last time; yes," Leo sighed. "So let's go. I'm not even armed, just go for it."

"Sure. It's not like I have better things to do than beating up unarmed blind people…" Donnie said and shook his head, but then used his staff to attack Leo's left side.

Leo blocked the attack easily by grabbing the staff and then used the force against Donnie, throwing him across the room. Donnie hit the floor hard with a painful thud.

"Good, keep that up," Leo said encouragingly, and assumed another fighting pose.

"… I'd rather keep working on the spy blimp," Donnie muttered as he got up.

Suddenly, Raph walked inside the dojo. Bored by the solitude in his room, he had decided to check out what the commotion was about. When he saw the two turtles training, a smile suddenly spread across his face and he walked over to Donnie.

"Come on, Don. Just attack me already," Leo told him impatiently. "I'll try to go easy on you."

Donnie was just about to give it another try when Raph stopped him by putting a hand on the stick. Donnie looked at him in confusion, but then smiled in realization. He handed over the bō staff to Raph who took it with a gleaming grin.

"I can _hear_ you thinking, Donnie," Leo sighed and scratched his neck. "It doesn't matter what strategy you come up with. This exercise is about enhancing your other senses and trusting your instincts, it's not like chess or-"

Raph swung the staff at Leo with such speed that he didn't have time to duck. The staff hit him in the back of his head so hard that Leo almost lost his balance.

"Okay, you caught me off guard. I'll give you that." Leo frowned in surprise, but immediately resumed his fighting position. "But it won't happen again. Just come at me like if it was a real battle-"

Raph took the invitation and immediately attacked Leo from behind. This time, the staff hit his shell. Leo winced and tried to locate Raph's position, but it was difficult since Raph was running around Leo in a big circle. He kept attacking Leo viciously whenever he could, forcing Leo to block blow after blow.

"Donnie, what are you doing?" Leo asked in annoyance, and barely managed to avoid a blow to the head.

"Nothing," Donnie said, with an honest smile.

"Oh yeah? For being nothing it sure feels like a lot of something," Leo said, as he blocked another attack and gritted his teeth in pain. "Ow! Seriously. it's almost like fighting Raph!"

"Can't argue with that," Donnie agreed, and picked a naginata from the wall of weapons.

Soon, both Raph and Donnie were running around Leo, attacking him at the same time. Leo could only block half of the attacks, and was growing more and more confused over how Donnie could hit him from so many directions.

"How did you- ow! When did- hey! How are you doing this!" Leo said, as he tried to listen where the enemy was in order to anticipate the attacks. "This isn't- You're not- What the heck- RAPH!"

Leo rapidly picked up his katanas and slashed at the incoming blow, cutting both the naginata and the bō staff in half. He tore off the blindfold and glared at Raph who was grinning in amusement as he tossed the broken weapon aside.

"What?" Raph said, with a shrug. "You said 'real battle'. Real battles have surprises. And besides, we're usually outnumbered."

"And just like in _real life_, you somehow manage to undermine my training even though you weren't even part of it," Leo stated.

"Happy to do it," Raph said, and gave Leo a pat on the shoulder.

"I wonder what's taking Mikey so long. It has almost been half an hour," Donnie said, and picked up the broken weapons in order to dispose them. "He's usually not so easily distracted when carrying food."

"I'm not surprised," Raph said grumpily at the mention of Mikey, and left the dojo. "He probably ate that pizza on his way here and now he doesn't dare to show his face."

"You're being unfair, Raph," Leo said, and followed him out of the dojo. "Our first thought shouldn't be that he has messed something up, our first concern should be that something might have happened. But on the other hand… it is Mikey were talking about."

"Especially considering the sudden increase of mutagen canisters all over the city that's totally not our fault," Donnie said sarcastically, and tossed the pieces in a cardboard box filled with broken staffs. "He could have been eaten by a giant, slimy, mutated snail for all we know."

"It's so sad that you'd rather think that Mikey got eaten by a mutated snail than that Mikey ate all the pizza," Raph told Donnie. "Like, really sad."

"I don't think that 'sad' applies to this scenario at all," Donnie disagreed.

"Enough," Leo interrupted. "We give him two more minutes, and then we'll go look for him. And I mean all of us. Raph, you okay with that?"

"Sure," Raph said disapprovingly, and walked over to the couch.

"Great," Leo said. He ran up behind Raph and swiped his legs, making him crash to the floor. "… Because that gives me two minutes to kick your butt for messing with me."

Raph rolled over on his back and jumped up on his feet with a malicious grin. "Oh, you're so on!" He said and leaped at Leo, dragging him down on the floor with him.

"While the two of you are beating each other senseless, I'm going to the lab," Donnie informed his brothers before he left. "I'll call for you when two minutes are up! Not that you're gonna hear it anyway…"

While Leo and Raph were throwing punches and trying to kick each other in the guts, there was a voice echoing through the sewer tunnels. However, none of the turtles were able to hear it at first. The echoing voice was getting closer and soon started to sound very similar to Mikey's.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Leo asked Raph, as he freed himself from his brother's grip.

"Hah! Nice try, Leo." Raph replied, and pinned him to the floor again. But then he hesitated as he could clearly hear Mikey's voice calling something down the tunnel.

Leo and Raph gave each other one look and then quickly left the spot to check what was going on. They had barely reached the turnstiles when Mikey suddenly appeared around a corner and rushed past them without giving them as much as a look.

"DONNIE!" Mikey yelled and looked around in panic. "Donnie! Where are you?! DON!"

"Geez… Stop _screaming_! Thanks a lot, Mikey. Now I'm starving AND deaf!" Raph yelled back, but then noticed that Mikey was carrying a shoe box in his arms. "… And unless they've changed the shape of the pizzas, I'm guessing that's not our dinner."

"Mikey, are you okay-" Leo began.

"Where's Donnie?" Mikey panted, holding the box in a tight grip.

"In his lab, but- Mikey!" Leo shouted as Mikey darted towards the lab. "Hang on a second! What's going on?!"

Mikey didn't answer and ran inside the lab, almost crashing right into Donnie, who just had left to check on the noise. Donnie grabbed Mikey's shoulders to keep him from tripping and looked at him in surprise.

"Whoa, Mikey! What's wrong?" Donnie asked.

"You gotta help! Come on, move your shell!" Mikey said, and grabbed his brother's hand in order to drag Donnie with him inside the lab. "HURRY!"

"Yes, yes. Of course," Donnie said, as he followed Mikey back inside the lab. "But… Hey, take it easy. Help with what? Are you hurt?"

Both Leo and Raph looked at each other at the last question and ran after them. Mikey let go of Donnie's hand and stopped at the examining table to put down the shoe box.

"He's in a really bad shape, bro," Mikey explained. "There was blood, and stuff, and thugs and… and then I ran here, and- You have to do something!"

"Alright, alright. Just calm down and let me have a look," Donnie answered calmly and opened the box.

In the shoe box on an old dirty t-shirt, lay a kitten. The fur was gray with dark stripes and it was lying outstretched on the improvised mattress with its eyes closed. Based on the size, it couldn't be more than two months old and there were small spots of blood around its mouth. It wasn't moving.

"Oh, Mikey…" Donnie said sadly.

"Don't just stand there, do something!" Mikey said with a desperate look at the kitten. "Can you fix him? You can fix him right? Come on, bro. I know you can-"

"No, Mikey- I can't!" Donnie said in distress. "This isn't like a broken TV remote, I'm not a doctor. I'm not even close to a veterinarian…! I don't even know where to start!"

"You have to! You're the smart one!" Mikey said with a pleading look. "Please, Donnie. There's no one else who can."

Donnie closed his eyes tightly in anguish, but then looked at Mikey. He took a deep breath and carefully picked up the kitten. He turned it over cautiously and brought it over to a desk lamp to examine it closer. Mikey looked over his shoulder, watching his brother's every move.

"You can do it, Donnie…" Mikey whispered in his ear. "I believe in you, bro…"

"Not the time for pep talk, Mikey," Donnie said, and reached for a magnifying tool.

"Don, is there anything we can do to help?" Leo offered.

"Yes. Step outside or be quiet," Donnie said without looking up. "This kitten isn't exactly the size of a mutated turtle… I'm gonna need to concentrate."

"O-kay…" Leo said carefully in a low voice. He put a hand on Mikey's shoulder and ushered him to move back a few steps with him and Raph.

Donnie brought the lamp closer to the kitten and gently opened one of its eyes. His face turned serious and he pushed back the lamp. He then took the kitten's paw and moved the leg forth and back, watching the movement closely. Donnie laid the kitten down in his hand and carefully prodded its body, seemingly looking for something. He ended the examination by putting two fingers on the kitten's chest. Donnie sighed and gently put the small ball of fur back in the box.

"Mikey, I'm…" Donnie hesitated, his shoulders slumped.

"Is he gonna make it?" Mikey asked with his eyes wide in anticipation.

"Mikey, I'm so sorry…" Donnie said with a sad look at his brother.

Mikey just stared at Donnie without moving a muscle, as if Donnie's words had been in another language and he tried to figure out what he meant by them. Mikey then walked up to the box and looked down at the kitten.

"Is he dead?" Mikey asked with a blank expression.

"Yes," Donnie answered.

"So, he's not gonna wake up?"

"No."

"But... Can't you make him better?" Mikey asked, and glanced at Donnie.

"I can't. I really can't-" Donnie tried to explain.

"Why not?!" Mikey asked, with an upset look at Donnie. "You're the smartest guy I know! Can't you make something that will help, or invent a-"

"Mikey, please stop," Donnie said, with a pleading look.

"But this shouldn't have happened!" Mikey told him. "I ran here the fastest I could!"

"The injuries were fatal. It wouldn't have mattered how fast you ran," Donnie explained.

"But it shouldn't have-"

"Mikey…! It's too late," Donnie said. He put his hands on Mikey's shoulders, his eyes filled with sorrow. "There's nothing anyone can do, or could have done. It was probably too late already when you picked him up-"

"He mewed..." Mikey interrupted, and looked at the kitten in the box. "He mewed when I picked him up. He wasn't dead when I found him."

"I don't know what to say…" Donnie said, with a dejected look. "I wish I could do something, I really do. But I can't. I'm sorry…"

Mikey kept staring down at the kitten. He then put the lid back and picked up the box and left the lab without as much as a word.

"Mikey. This isn't your fault. Wait, Mikey…! It wasn't your-" Donnie called out, but his little brother had already left.

Leo and Raph watched Mikey disappear, and then turned to Donnie. He gave his brothers an incredibly dejected look and turned off the desk lamp.

"He's not gonna be fine, you know," Donnie said.

"I think you're right," Leo said with a nod and left. "I'll go talk to him."

Raph stayed behind and walked up to Donnie, not sure what to say.

"How did he find that kitten anyway?" Raph said, more for the sake of talking than an actual question.

"I don't know…" Donnie sighed tiredly.

"I mean, he was supposed to get pizza," Raph continued. "Who manages to come home with a cat and a shoe box instead?"

Donnie didn't answer this time, and just gave Raph a drained look. Raph scratched his neck and glanced a bit awkwardly at his brother.

"How did it die, by the way?" Raph asked.

"Based on the injuries, I think I have a pretty good idea how," Donnie said bitterly and walked over to the remaining pieces of the spy blimp.

"Oh yeah? Tell me," Raph said and leaned against the table.

"You're not gonna like it," Donnie stated.

"Probably. I don't like a lot of things," Raph said indifferently. "Tell me."

"Well… Based on the examination, there wasn't one bone left in that cat's body that wasn't broken. Including the neck…" Donnie explained and looked at Raph. "Someone killed that cat. And I think that Mikey saw the whole thing."

* * *

**Next Chapter**: I think we all want to know how Mikey is going to deal with this. But how will his brothers deal with Mikey? And if you thought that this chapter lacked Splinters and Aprils, you'll be happy to know that chapter 2 will be much richer in that regard.

**Author's Note**: If you enjoyed this chapter, please tell me! I won't know if anyone is reading this unless you do. And by all means, please leave a comment even if you didn't like it and tell me why it sucked! As long as it helps me improve myself, I encourage any kind of critique. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: Okay, I can't quite contain myself: I am SO GRATEFUL to you guys! 3 I just want to reach through the computer screen and wrap my arms around you in the warmest hug you could possibly imagine! \\(^0^)/ You have no idea how much every single follow, favorite and review has brightened my day. My self-esteem is extremely low so it isn't easy for me to put my stories up for others to read (my sister pretty much forced me to put it up).

I sincerely hope that you'll like this chapter too. :) Even though it's a little shorter than the last one. I wanted to add one more scene to it, but then I wouldn't be able to update this story until next weekend… So here it is; A little shorter, but a little earlier.

Enjoy!

(And feel free to tell me if you find any grammar-gunk or other oddities in the text. It will help me improve my writing, and make the story more enjoyable for everyone to read).

* * *

"You did well today, April," Splinter told her, as they took left in the sewer tunnel that led home. "Your skills are improving."

"Thanks, sensei. Glad that at least one of us thinks so..." April said with a semi smile, and tried to squeeze the water out of her pony tail. "But it feels like I would have been better off in a swimsuit than my regular clothes."

"This was not a swimming lesson. The training was to control your balance," Splinter explained.

"I get that, Sensei," April nodded. "But next time, could we do this exercise in a… Well, drier place?"

"It is a perfectly dry place," Splinter said, with a smile. "As long as you stay out of the water."

"Yeah, that's kinda my point," April said while wringing out the water of her shirt. "Why can't we do this in the dojo? I can balance on a plank there just as well as above a water supply."

"Water breaks your fall easier than solid ground," Splinter said, and gave April a look. "I can assure you, it is a much more suitable environment for this sort of training."

"… It's also colder," April pointed out, with an involuntary shiver.

"Balance is one of the most important basics in a kunoichi's training," Splinter explained, and gave April a pat on the shoulder. "Once you have mastered it completely, you will discover that it can be a powerful weapon against an enemy."

"I thought you said that a kunoichi's most powerful weapon is the mind?" April asked, with a frown.

"It is. _And_ balance," Splinter answered simply. "Among other things. Lots of things. We will get to them later."

"When I've learned how to not fall down from a two inches wide plank about three feet above a pool of water...?" April asked, with a small sigh.

"Yes," Splinter said, and smiled at April. "Eventually. Rigorous training will result in improvement. Complaining, however, will not."

"I wasn't complaining...!" April said defensively as Splinter chuckled.

They had finally arrived at the lair, and were just about to pass the turnstiles when an explosion was heard from the turtles' home. Small burning pieces of cloth and metal were flying in every direction. The ninja master used his cane to easily hit back the tiny projectiles, while April instinctively brought out her tessen and used it to hit a sharp piece of metal that was coming straight for her head. Splinter glanced at her with interest.

"Your skills truly are improving," Splinter stated.

"Or I'm just getting disturbingly used to stuff blowing up right next to me," April said with an uncertain smile, and put the fan back in her belt.

Inside the lair, Donnie was busy picking up the pieces of what only ten seconds ago had been known as spy blimp 2.0. The once magnificent airship was now reduced to a smoking pile of burned wires, metal pieces, and melted plastic.

"Okay, just for the record: That was NOT supposed to happen," Donnie announced to his brothers as he scooped up the pieces, and tossed them into a small bucket.

"Are you sure about that, Donnie?" Raph asked, in annoyance, as he pierced the training doll's skull with his sai. "'Cause I was just thinking how we could really use a remote controlled balloon that blows up in our faces!"

"For the last time, it's a _spy blimp_," Donnie corrected him. "Stop calling it a balloon. You're making it sound like something that escaped from some kid's birthday party."

"… Pretty sure no parent would let that thing near their kids," Raph stated, with a glance at the scorched parts on the floor.

"Maybe you should give it a rest, Donnie?" Leo suggested from the couch, looking up from his comic book. "I mean, you've been working on that spy blimp nonstop. Why are you trying so hard with something that we don't even need for the moment?"

"For the same reason we didn't need Metalhead, the patrol buggies, the t-phones, the smoke bombs, the shell racer, and the turtle sub," Donnie explained calmly, but then turned to Leo in annoyance. "Because in the end we always DO need them! Or do you prefer it when I throw something together in the last minute before a mission while you guys are screaming at me to work faster!?"

Leo looked up at Donnie and stared at him in surprise, completely taken aback by the sudden outburst.

"Um… Are you alright, Donnie?" Leo asked uncertainly.

"Really, _Leo_?" Donnie asked, in frustration. "There's a psychopath stabbing a doll in the face literally ten feet away from you. For FUN. And you're asking if _I'm_ alright?!"

"Who are you calling a psychopath?" Raph asked warily as he pulled out his sai from where the doll's eye socket should have been.

"See! You see that?" Donnie asked Leo, with an agitated gesture towards Raph. "How come THAT isn't even worth batting an eye over, but when _Donnie_ decides to raise his voice for once, someone better ask him if he's alright!"

"Donnie, take it easy…! I was just suggesting that you should take a break," Leo said defensively, with a careful look at his brother. "'Cause it looks like you could really need one. I'm sorry if I-"

"No, I'm sorry…" Donnie sighed, suddenly feeling bad. "I didn't mean to shout like that, I just… I need to occupy my mind with something. Anything. This is how I deal with stuff when I'm feeling stressed or-

"What are you feeling stressed about, Donnie?" April suddenly asked as she and Splinter entered the lair.

"April…!?" Donnie said in shock, and quickly shoved the bucket with blimp-parts in Leo's arms before running up to greet her. "Welcome home- I mean, welcome back. I've missed you- We've missed you! I mean…H-How did the training go?"

"Not great," April said, with a strained smile.

"April is very talented," Splinter said, while stroking his beard thoughtfully. "I have no doubt that she will make a fine kunoichi."

"He means that it's going slow," April clarified apologetically.

"Don't be silly, you're doing great," Donnie said cheerfully and put a reassuring hand on April's shoulder. "Trust me, you'll get a hang of it in no time and then you'll be-"

Donnie interrupted himself and looked at April in confusion as he quickly retracted his hand, as if the yellow color of her shirt had bitten him.

"…cold," Donnie said, and stared at her in shock. "April, you're cold as an ice cube! How the- And why are your clothes wet- What on earth have you been doing?"

"Training with master Splinter," April said, with a shrug.

"Training what? Winter swimming?" Donnie asked.

"Close enough," April answered, with a small semi smile. "I've been improving my balance."

"In the pool?" Raph asked, and looked up with a nostalgic grin. "Hey, I remember that. I bet it's easier to stand the water with green skin."

"This isn't funny, Raph," Donnie scolded him. "She's human! She could get a cold, or the flu, or pneumonia. Or worse!"

"Don't you think you're being a tad bit overprotective?" Leo asked him.

"What? That's preposterous," Donnie said while ushering April to the couch. "There you go. Sit down, sit down. Good. And don't move. Just sit there and dry. I'm gonna get you a towel. I'll be right back."

Donnie left in a hurry, and April watched him with an uncertain expression.

"… You guys actually got towels down here?" April asked the others.

"Donnie does," Leo stated from his end of the couch, and put down the bucket with the blimp parts to pick up his comic instead. "Donnie is special."

"In case you haven't noticed," Raph added, with a mocking grin.

"Well, I guess none of you happen to have a hairdryer that I could borrow too?" April said jokingly, and dragged a hand through her damp hair.

"We do. But Donnie is kinda using it," Leo replied without thinking.

April stared at him with a blank expression.

"You got one, _an__d_ you're using it," April stated.

"What? No, it's not what you think," Leo hurriedly added.

"Yeah, it's much more disturbing than that," Raph said teasingly, receiving an angry glare from Leo.

Donnie was suddenly back, carrying a big, blue neatly folded towel in his arms. He was about to put it around April's shoulder, but hesitated and simply handed it to her instead.

"Um… Here you go, April," Donnie said, and looked away shyly.

"Thanks, Donnie," April said as she released her pony tail, and shook her damp hair to let it dry, which made Donnie blush even more.

"We will continue your training tomorrow," Splinter told April and then glanced at the turtles. "Yours, on the other hand, begins now. Gather in the dojo. We will start immediately."

Leo, Raph and Donnie glanced at each other uneasily.

"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna work, Sensei," Raph stated, and folded his arms.

"And why is that?" Splinter said, with a stern look at Raph, making the turtle subconsciously take a step back.

"… No reason. I mean… Well, it's simple, really. And…" Raph hesitated, and then glanced at Leo's direction. "… And Leo is gonna tell you all about it."

Leo gave Raph a disapproving look, but then sighed. He tossed his comic aside before walking up to Splinter.

"Sensei, we were wondering if…" Leo started, while trying to come up with the right words. "… If we maybe could skip this training session? Just for today, like a… Like a day off."

"A day off?" Splinter repeated, with a raised eyebrow. "April didn't take the day off. The Foot most certainly doesn't take a day off. I doubt the Kraang takes a day off. Why should you get a day off?"

The awkward silence that followed was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Leo looked at his brothers for suggestions, but both Raph and Donnie just shrugged and shook their heads to show that it was all up to him.

"Well?" Splinter asked again.

"It's… It's not the training that's the problem, Sensei," Leo finally explained. "It's Michelangelo. He's not feeling too good, and I honestly don't think he can handle a training session right now."

"Is that so?" Splinter asked, in mild surprise. "Are you saying that he is ill?"

"I don't think that's the right word for it," Leo said, and scratched his neck. "He's not actually sick, he just… Sort of shut himself inside his room a few hours ago, and hasn't left it since."

Splinter frowned at this information, and April looked up from underneath the towel. She then slowly turned her eyes to Raph and gave him a blaming glare.

"What did you do?" She wanted to know.

"What did_ I_ do?!" Raph asked, offended. "What kind of question is that?"

"I'd say it's a pretty fair one considering your track record," Donnie said, with a shrug.

"Leonardo?" Splinter asked, and turned to his oldest son for an elaboration.

"Well…" Leo said uneasily. "A couple of hours ago, we sent Mikey out to get dinner. I don't know exactly how, somewhere along the way he found a kitten. And since it was hurt, he decided to take it with him… Home."

"A cat?" Splinter asked, with a disapproving look.

"A kitty?" April asked, in excitement. "Oh my gosh…! What does it look like? Can I see it?"

"April… It was hurt," Leo told her, with a pained expression. "…Badly."

April watched Leo with a confused expression. Her smile then faded, and she stared at him in realization.

"Oh no…" April said, with a devastated look.

"Donnie tried to save it," Leo continued, and looked at Donnie who had sat down next to April in the couch. "But… I think it was just too late to do anything. The worst part was that Mikey really thought that it was gonna make it. And when it didn't… Well, he didn't take it very well."

April glanced at Donnie in sympathy, but Donnie was staring down at the floor gloomily and for once didn't seem to notice her.

"Poor Mikey," April said, with a sad look. "But… At least he's got you guys. I'm an only child, so I can't imagine how great it must be to have three brothers to talk to whenever you need some-"

Leo gave Raph an awkward look, and even Donnie looked up with an uneasy expression and didn't say anything. April stared at the turtles in disbelief.

"_Gu__ys!_" She said, with an accusing look at all of them. "He's been alone in his room for hours, and you haven't even tried to talk to him yet? He's your brother!"

"To be fair; it's pretty difficult having a conversation with someone through a keyhole," Raph said, defensively. "Also, since when do we have locks on those doors?"

"Oh, I installed them about two months ago," Donnie explained, casually. "I must have forgotten to mention it…"

"You installed locks in our bedrooms without our knowledge?" Leo asked, with a concerned look at Donnie. "Okay, we seriously need to start keeping track on what you're doing around here all day."

"Wanna know the ironic part?" Donnie asked. "Mikey was the reason to why I got those locks to begin with."

"Great," Leo sighed, and turned to Splinter. "Anyway, we were kinda hoping that you could talk to him, Sensei. He never listens to me, Raph would only make it worse, and he barely understands Donnie as it is. At least you would know what to say to make him feel better."

Splinter closed his eyes and pondered for a few seconds before looking at Leo again.

"No," Splinter said.

"…No?" Leo asked, in surprise. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"I have no idea who this is or what he's done to Master Splinter… but I think I like him," Raph stated, and looked at Splinter with interest.

"Not funny, Raph," Leo told his brother, before turning to Splinter again. "Sensei, he's literally keeping a shoebox with a dead kitten in his room. He's _not_ fine. You really don't think that someone should go and talk to him?"

"Grief is not a disease that needs to be cured, Leonardo," Splinter explained. "It is a healing process. We all deal with it differently. And a locked door is usually a sign of that someone wishes to be left alone."

"I don't know..." Leo said, with an uncertain glance to Mikey's room.

"Wait, hold on," April protested. "Mikey is obviously hurting over this, maybe even blaming himself. How is ignoring him gonna make him feel better?"

"I did not say ignore," Splinter said calmly.

"But you _do_ think that we should leave him alone," April continued.

"April…" Splinter said instead, and gave her a look. "How did you feel when your father was abducted by the Kraang?"

"I… I was sad," April answered, surprised over the question. "How could I not be? I didn't know if he was alive or not."

"Did people try to cheer you up?" Splinter asked curiously.

"Well, yeah," April answered, with a frown.

"Did it work?"

April stared at Splinter for a moment before looking down dejectedly without answering.

"Poking a fresh wound is not going to make it heal," Splinter told them. "It is important that you are there for Michelangelo when he needs you, but it is also important to let him decide that on his own. Do you understand?"

"Hai, Sensei," Leo said, and nodded.

"Good," Splinter said, and turned to the dojo. "We will continue your training on a later date."

"Just let me get this straight," Raph asked sarcastically. "If I lock myself in _my_ room when _I'm_ in a bad mood, then I'm allowed to skip training too?"

"_Mikey_ isn't in a bad mood every day of every week of every month of every year," Donnie stated deadpan, but then hesitated and quickly looked at Splinter with a hopeful smile. "Please say yes."

"Today you may," Splinter answered, with the shadow of a smile before leaving the room to enter the dojo. "Consider this your 'day off'."

"Huh," Leo stated when Splinter had left the room. "I… didn't think he'd let all of us skip training."

"Yeah, Mikey would be thrilled over this," Donnie said. "You know, if the very reason to why the training has been canceled wasn't because he's currently severely depressed."

"Not for long," Leo said, with a confident look that was such a spitting image of Captain Ryan from Space Heroes that he must have practiced it in front of a mirror. "We're gonna get our old Mikey back."

"Did anyone here actually miss 'old' Mikey?" Raph asked deadpan. "I mean it. I can't be the only one here who's enjoying the peace and quiet."

"How are you planning to do it?" April asked Leo, with a frown. "You're not gonna kick down the door and drag him out by the feet, are you?"

"Wow…" Leo said, with a surprised look at April. "You honestly think we would do that…?"

"I'm actually feeling a little offended," Donnie pointed out.

"Anyway, the answer is no. We're gonna make him feel _better_," Leo clarified, with a smile and a nod. "It's just like you said. We're his brothers; it's our job to prevent him from ever feeling sad again."

"… I don't think that's what I said," April protested, with a hesitant look.

"I don't care what anyone said. I'm staying the heck out of this one," Raph stated, and walked over to the pinball machine. "Without Mikey messing around, I'm finally gonna beat the lights out of Leo's high score."

"No you're not," Leo stated, with little interest. "And I wasn't even gonna ask you. The idea is to cheer Mikey up, not adding more fuel to his nightmares."

"Guys, it doesn't work like that," April said in frustration. "You can't push someone to be happy just because you want them to be, you just can't!"

"… Can't or shouldn't?" Leo asked, and tilted his head.

"Both!" April said, and then sighed. "Look, Mikey doesn't need a cheerleading team. Sometimes… you just have to let a person be sad for a while. Can't anyone of you relate to that?"

The turtles, with the exception from Raph, who was busy hitting the buttons on the pinball machine, looked at April with blank expressions. April's phone suddenly made a sound and she picked it up to check the text.

"Look, I have to run. But keep me posted," April said, and quickly put her hair back up in a ponytail before leaving the couch. "And _please_ listen to Splinter, okay? Maybe he's right. Maybe Mikey needs some time to process what happened. Just leave him alone for now, and when he feels like talking, he'll probably come out on his own."

* * *

"No, wait. You hold the box, and I wave the fumes into the keyhole," Donnie instructed.

Leo opened the lid of the box, revealing a glorious, glistening, warm pizza inside. He moved closer to Mikey's door, and kept the box right outside the keyhole while Donnie was using a comic book as a fan.

"Wow. A freshly baked pizza with jelly beans, peperoni, mushroom and jalapeño," Leo announced. "It sure looks good."

"And smells good too. Mmm…" Donnie joined in, with a tempting voice. "And we haven't eaten since breakfast. I don't know about you Leo, but I am _starving_."

"And its Mikey's favorite!" Leo said, in pretend surprise. "What a crazy coincidence. I bet he'd like to sink his teeth into this one."

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to wait for him," Donnie continued mercilessly. "I'm soooo hungry."

"Me too, Donnie. But maybe if he shows up within the next ten seconds, he'll get a slice anyway."

The two brothers waited eleven seconds before giving each other a worried look.

"… A BIG slice then." Leo continued. "Or two slices. Or two BIG slices-"

Donnie suddenly snatched the box away from Leo, and picked up a black marker. He wrote something on the lid before handing it back to Leo again.

"Well… What do you know," Leo said cheerfully. "This pizza actually got Mikey's name on it! A whole pizza is literally just lying here, begging for him to eat it. I wonder if he'll show up."

Leo and Donnie waited in anticipation for any kind of response, but the door was as likely to move as a raincloud over a parade.

"… But, since Mikey doesn't seem to want any," Leo said, and picked up a slice which he dangled in front of the keyhole. ", I guess we have no choice but to eat this baby without him. In five, four… three… twoooo-"

"Save it, it's not working," Donnie stated, with a sigh.

"It seems that way, huh?" Leo stated gloomily, and put the slice back in the box. "Ok, plan A is officially a failure. This is kinda embarrassing…"

"_You_ think it's embarrassing?" Donnie asked with a subtle glare. "I'm supposed to be the smart one here, but apparently I must have read in a scientific study somewhere that you can cure depression with pizza, or why else would I be doing this?"

"… Are we're being bad brothers for thinking that this would work?" Leo asked. "Though, to be fair, it's Mikey we're talking about. Food is usually the solution to his problems."

"Hence why we should know better," Donnie muttered.

"This isn't over yet," Leo said, and put down the pizza. "It's time for plan B."

"Isn't the reason to why people call it 'plan B' usually because it's not as good as plan A…?" Donnie pointed out.

"Donnie, don't be a cynic," Leo said, and picked up the comic book which Donnie had earlier used as a fan.

"I'm not a cynic, I just like to be accurate," Donnie said, in defense. "We've lived together for approximately fifteen years! How is this news to you?"

Instead of answering, Leo hid the comic behind his back and knocked on Mikey's door.

"Hey, Mikey. I brought something for you," Leo said encouragingly. "Open the door and I'll show you."

"That's a bit cheap…" Donnie said, unimpressed.

"Shhh…! It might work!" Leo told him.

The two turtles waited for a response, but the door remained shut.

"Anyway. I got in my hand the Space Heroes-comic issue two," Leo explained to the door. "You know, that rare one that I keep in plastic which I never let you touch, but which I strongly suspect that you have done repeatedly behind my back when I weren't looking. If you want, I could give it to you. You've always wanted to lay your hand s on it, Mikey. Open the door and it's yours."

"… Is issue number two supposed to have that many digits?" Donnie asked, with a wary look at the comic.

Leo hushed at his brother, and kept staring at the door. His smile then faded, and he slowly started banging his forehead against it. Donnie studied him for a moment before casually patting him on the back.

"You know that you could get a mild concussion from doing that, right?" Donnie asked.

"Right," Leo answered, but didn't elaborate the answer.

"We could ask Raph if he got any ideas," Donnie said, with a skeptic look. "If he wasn't so-"

"… So busy being a jerk and in complete denial?" Leo said deadpan.

"That's pretty much it," Donnie answered. "I'd say he's not just _in_ 'the Nile', I'd say that he's practically drowning in it."

"… Was that a pun?" Leo asked, and looked up at Donnie this time.

"Not if you have to ask," Donne stated, and turned away. "Wait here a sec, I have an idea."

Donnie was back in less than a minute, with a remote control in his hand. He showed it to Leo before knocking on the door.

"We need something to sweeten the deal," Donnie told Leo, and then cleared his throat. "Um, Mikey? I think you'll like this… Right now, I'm holding the remote control to the new, improved Super Spy Blimp 2000."

"I thought it was named Spy Blimp 2.0?" Leo whispered, with a raised eyebrow.

"And which one sounds cooler to you?" Donnie whispered in reply.

"… Good point," Leo admitted, with a shrug.

"Anyway, I need someone with _mean finger skills_ to help me test drive it. What do you say?"

Neither the door, nor the turtle behind it, made a sound.

"I added a big red button that says 'don't push'," Donnie said temptingly, with the smile of a car salesman. "Just for you, Mikey. Don't you wanna know what it does…?"

"Oh, good one," Leo complimented Donnie.

"Thanks!" Donnie said appreciatively.

The seconds went by. After a minute, Donnie gave Leo a dejected look, and the two brothers sighed miserably.

"Hopeless…!" Leo said in frustration, and heavily leaned his back towards the wall.

"Leo, maybe we should give up already," Donnie suggested. "April and Splinter could be right. Mikey obviously doesn't want our company right now, so maybe we should-"

A threatening growl made both Leo and Donnie turn around, only to notice Raph standing a couple of feet away from them. He had left the pinball machine a while ago to watch some TV instead. It was possible that his brothers repeated failed attempts to lure out Mikey had made it difficult for him to concentrate on the martial art movie he was trying to watch.

"Raph, what are you-" Leo said, but was soon shoved aside by the red masked turtle who walked straight up to the door.

"HEY!" Raph yelled, loud enough for a deaf person to hear, and started ramming the door with his fist. "Stop moping already! You think you're the only one here who has ever felt a little down? I got news for you! _You're not_! The only difference is that the rest of us don't lock ourselves in our rooms like morons! So get over it already and open the freaking door!"

"Is he helping, or…?" Donnie asked Leo, with an uncertain glance at Raph.

Raph turned silent and panted heavily like if he was out of breath. He glared at the door intently, waiting for some kind of response. The door didn't move.

"Oh yeah? You're just gonna ignore me, is that it?!" Raph yelled, with his eyes on fire and started to tackle the door with great force. "Let's see if you can ignore a fist to your face!"

"Okay, _not_ helping!" Leo told Donnie, and leaped forward to restrain the hot tempered turtle. "Raph! Calm down, man…! Hey! Take it easy!"

"Let go of me!" Raph growled as Donnie and Leo grabbed one arm each and dragged him far away from Mikey's room. "I'm gonna punch him normal again!"

"Yeah! That'll work! It's not like he's hurting enough as it is…!" Donnie told him, with a strained voice.

"Maybe he just needs a good wakeup call!" Raph growled, and tried to kick himself loose from them.

"Not the kind you're thinking of," Leo hissed, and had to use all of his strength in order to keep him in check. "Raph, cool off! You're _not_ breaking down that door! You hear me!?"

"I'm tired of this!" Raph said, and pulled himself free from his brothers. He turned to them with an angry glare "He can't stay in there forever!"

"Not likely. He has to eat at some point," Donnie pointed out, in a matter of fact voice.

"Great! We starve him out," Raph stated, with his fists clenched in determination.

"Nobody's starving anyone!" Leo ruled out, with a stern look at his brothers.

"The average human can survive about a week without food as long as they have access to a water supply," Donnie continued, with a pondering look, unable to leave the subject. "And assuming that Mikey hasn't installed any plumbing systems in his room lately, I'd say we can expect him out of there in approximately 72 hours or less. Give or take."

"For the last time, we're not starving him out," Leo said, and glanced at the pizza outside Mikey's room. "I think I have a better idea."

* * *

**Next time**: We finally get to meet Mikey! How is he really doing? And can his brothers help him, or is it possible that their good intentions could make things worse?

**AN**: I'm so sorry that you didn't get to see Mikey in this chapter. I know… I'm disappointed in me too. I promised myself that if there actually were people out there who liked this story and wanted to read more, I would not make them wait. I would drop everything at hand and put up the next chapter within a week! …However, Mikey's part was a little trickier to write, so in the end I didn't get done with it in time, and had to cut it out. Instead, the next chapter will start from Mikey's POW.

I hope you're not too disappointed… Tell me what you like (or dislike) with this chapter. It'll help me tremendously in order to make the next one as great as possible. And thank you for reading this far! I hope you'll stay for the whole ride. ;) You have no idea what I got planned for these guys…


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** This chapter was NOT supposed to take this long to write. I'm sorry for the delay… I got a job right now that's stealing my free time and then I had to rewrite a big chunk of this chapter because I didn't like the way it was written. This was a difficult puppy, but I sincerely hope that it's worth the wait.

Thank you so much for the reviews and favorites and follows! It really kept me going during my writer's block, when all I wanted to do was smash my laptop with an iron pipe… I'm gonna stop blabbering now. Here's chapter 3. Enjoy, my friends.

(**EDIT:** This chapter has been slightly edited the 18th of October due to new information in the episode "Buried secrets".)

* * *

Mikey turned his head slightly, just enough to glance at the shoebox below his bed. As if to make sure that it was still where he had left it. He stared at it for a minute and felt a cold sensation growing menacingly in his chest the longer he looked. Mikey sighed, and buried his face deep down in the pillow again.

There was a knock on the door, but Mikey didn't make any attempt to answer it. He knew who it was. Leo and Donnie were whispering outside, and had been doing so for several minutes. Mikey couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he had lost interest pretty quickly, so it didn't matter. Suddenly, a faint scent of mozzarella cheese reached Mikey's nose. He inhaled the fumes and almost purred with temptation. Leo's voice was calling from the other side of the door.

"_Wow. A freshly baked pizza with jelly beans, peperoni, mushroom and jalapeño. It sure looks good."_

Mikey looked up ever so slightly. It really was the smell of freshly baked pizza that filled his room. Mikey closed his eyes and slowly breathed it in.

"_And smells good too. Mmm… And we haven't eaten since breakfast. I don't know about you Leo, but I am starving."_

The last voice was Donnie's. Mikey's eyes snapped open and he felt the coldness spreading in his chest again. He gazed down at the box...

Donnie couldn't save him. Donnie, who could fix anything Mikey broke or damaged. Why couldn't he fix this? For the first time, the heavy aroma of cheese and peperoni was making Mikey feel sick. The last place he had smelled pizza was on that rooftop. Only seconds before he had seen those guys in the alley. Seen what they did.

Mikey shifted in his bed and turned his back to the door. Away from the encouraging voices and the smell. No, he wasn't in the mood for food. He wasn't in the mood for pizza…

"_Um, Mikey? I think you'll like this…" _

Mikey didn't dignify the statement with a reply, or the door with a look.

"_Right now, I'm holding the remote control to the new, improved, Super Spy Blimp 2000."_

This made Mikey react. He looked at the door with something that could almost be described as interest as he patiently waited for his brother to continue.

"_Anyway, I need someone with mean finger skills to help me test drive it. What do you say?"_

Mikey had mean finger skills. He could totally test drive it. He had wanted to do it ever since Raph had demolished the first one.

Raph…

Mikey turned away again with a bitter sigh. What was the point? Raph would just smash this one too. That's what he did to Mikey and his toys. This time wouldn't be any different. And Mikey didn't actually _like_ running for his life from an armed, sadistic maniac who had issues with everything he did and said. _"Be someone else's brother for a change"._ Right now, Mikey didn't mind the idea.

Donnie would have to get another test pilot. Mikey didn't feel like helping him this time… How had he managed to fix that spy blimp so fast anyway? How could Donnie be smart enough to make a new, improved one in less than a day, when he couldn't even fix a-

Mikey sat up in his bed and looked down at the box. What if Donnie was wrong? What if the kitten wasn't really dead? Donnie was super smart, but even he made mistakes. And maybe he had made one this time.

He jumped up from his bed and picked up the shoebox. He shut out his brothers' voices and only focused on the box. He removed the lid and put it down on a table. The kitten was still there. Mikey didn't think it looked dead. It just looked like it was snoozing.

"Come on, little dude..." Mikey said in a low voice, and poked it gently. "The big bad guys are gone. Rise and shine, you're safe and fine~"

He pushed it carefully, trying to make it move. But the kitten was just as deathly still as before. How could it be so hard to make something that looked so alive to live again…?

Mikey kept looking at the kitten, hoping for it to make a sound. Anything that would prove Donnie wrong. He didn't want Donnie to be right about this. He had to be wrong. Mikey waited. He observed the box for over a minute, looking for any kind of sign. Mikey wasn't very good at waiting. Eventually, his shoulders slumped and he looked away from the box dejectedly. He picked up the lid and slowly put it back on with shaky hands.

A bunch of violent bangs on the door made Mikey turn to it in confusion.

"_HEY! Stop moping already! You think you're the only one here who has ever felt a little down? I got news for you! You're not! The only difference is that the rest of us don't lock ourselves in our rooms like morons! So get over it already and open the freaking door!"_

Mikey gave the door an annoyed glare. He then threw himself on the bed and defiantly covered his ears with his hands, shutting out the noise.

"_Oh yeah!? You're just gonna ignore me, is that it?! Let's see if you can ignore a fist to your face!" _

"I dunno, I can't hear you," Mikey said, and closed his eyes. It was easier ignoring Raph without looking at all the posters falling down from the brute force.

Mikey wished that he'd never gone to get that pizza. If anyone else had gone to get it, maybe they could have done something. Donnie could have helped the kitten right on the spot. He would have saved it. And Leo was faster and better at almost everything. He would have been there in time to stop it from happening at all. And Raph… Ok, anyone but Raph.

Mikey suddenly heard an intense, drilling noise. He pressed his palms over his ears harder to shut it out, but it was too loud. In the next second, the door fell to the ground with a deafening crash and Leo and Raph jumped victoriously inside through the now open entrance, with Donnie standing outside with what seemed to be a homemade power drill.

"Wake up, Mikey. It's dinner time!" Leo announced while holding a pizza box with one hand as he cheerfully shook Mikey's shoulder with the other. "Doctor's orders. If you don't eat, you'll starve. Get up and let's go."

"I don't wanna…" Mikey mumbled, and put his pillow over his head.

"Come on, it's your favorite. I think," Leo said, and took a peek at the unusual pizza topping. "Well, one thing's for sure; no one else is gonna eat more than a slice of this thing… Anyway, let's go. Don't tell me that you're not hungry."

"I am. I just don't feel like eating," Mikey said, with a muffled voice underneath the pillow.

Leo glanced at the other two turtles uncertainly.

"… Apparently, he doesn't feel like eating," Leo stated, with a concerned eyebrow.

"Yes he does!" Raph said, and cracked his neck before walking up to Mikey's bed. "He just doesn't know it yet."

"Raph, what are you-"

Raph had already grabbed Mikey's left foot, and nodded at Leo to help out. Leo hesitated for a second but then smiled in agreement, and tossed the pizza box over to Donnie, who didn't seem to like where this was going.

"Sorry, Mikey. It's for your own good," Leo said, and grabbed Mikey's other foot. He gave Raph a sign and the two older turtles yanked each leg, forcibly pulling Mikey out of the bed.

"… Didn't we promise April explicitly that we would never do this?" Donnie asked Leo, and put away the power drill.

"Are you gonna tell her?" Leo asked.

"I'd prefer not to," Donnie admitted, and watched Mikey who was lying on his stomach, still hugging on to his pillow, as he was dragged across the floor by his brothers.

"Are you sure he needs more food?" Raph asked Leo, and gritted his teeth from the effort. "Feels to me like he could afford to lose a few pounds…"

"Or maybe you just need to work out more?" Leo asked, with a teasing smile.

"What- Shut up!" Raph retorted, and let go of Mikey's leg with one hand to punch Leo's arm.

"Um, Mikey. Here. Let me just take that for you…" Donnie told Mikey, and tried to take the pillow.

But Mikey didn't want to let go of it. Donnie sighed, and put down the pizza box so that he could try and pull it free with both his hands. However, Mikey had the pillow in a vice grip. The scene soon escalated into the oddest kind of tug of war, where Leo and Raph were pulling at Mikey's legs as hard as they could while Donnie was trying his best to yank the pillow out of Mikey's grip. And Mikey refused to let go.

"Oh, for the love of- Just let him keep it…!" Leo panted to Donnie.

"He can't drag his pillow with him all over the floor like that, it's not sanitary," Donnie replied, with a strained voice.

"Come on, Donnie! It's just a little dusty-"

"Are you kidding me?! Have you any idea of how many different kinds of bacteria are thriving in here?!" Donnie protested. "_A lot_! Nobody ever cleans this place!"

"Who cares? Mikey's room is fifteen times grosser than the whole lair," Raph argued. "If there are any diseases in that pillow, he's probably immune to every single one of 'em!"

"Fine…!" Donnie said, and without warning let go of the pillow, making both Leo and Raph fall backwards on the hard floor. Mikey however was still lying limply like a lifeless doll, with his face down in the pillow. He wasn't reacting even a little to the chaos around him. Donnie looked terrified over what he accidentally had caused, and studied his brothers with an uneasy look.

"… you guys weren't ready?" Donnie asked uncertainly.

"No…! Not quite!" Leo replied while rubbing a sore spot on the back of his head, and Raph glared at Donnie with the eyes of someone who was about to cause a crime scene.

"Right… Um. I'll go and… Set the table," Donnie excused himself, and quickly picked up the pizza before leaving.

"Yeah, as if we ever eat at the table…" Raph muttered, and started dragging Mikey towards the TV.

* * *

The three older turtles studied their little brother with concerned looks. They were sitting in the couch by the TV, with one slice of pizza each, but no one was eating. Instead, they were all staring at Mikey, who was sitting by himself in the other end of the couch. He had a tired look on his face and was chewing idly on the tip of his slice over and over again.

"It's been twenty minutes and he's still on his first slice…!" Leo stated in disbelief while watching Mikey.

"I've never seen him eat pizza like that," Donnie whispered, with a horrified look. "How can he eat pizza like that? Nobody eats pizza like that!"

"I'm not sure he's really eating it," Raph said, without taking his eyes off his little brother. "I think that slice looks bigger now than when he started."

"He probably has a lot of stuff on his mind," Donnie said, and glanced at Mikey, who didn't seem to hear their conversation. Or he just didn't care.

"More on his mind than in his stomach, that's for sure…" Raph said, and observed Mikey. "Do you think he'd notice if I just took that slice right out of his hands?"

"_I_ would notice," Leo said sternly, and glared at Raph. "And you're not stealing your little brother's food…!"

"Yeah, what's wrong with you!?" Donnie concurred, with an angry look at Raph.

"Hey! It's a fair question! He's not eating it!" Raph protested, and pointed at Mikey's direction.

"Yes he is!" Leo argued, and looked at Mikey. "Just… Very, very slowly."

"If I were to roughly estimate the percentage of that pizza slice's mass, I'd say he's eaten about seven percent of it. Give or take." Donnie concluded, after some quick calculations.

"See?" Leo told Raph triumphantly. "Seven percent is something, right, Donnie?"

"I think that depends on what standard," Donnie replied uncertainly.

"I don't care! Whatever standard that is, it's _not_ normal," Raph stated grumpily.

"I was sure that he'd feel at least a _little_ better once we got him out of his room," Donnie said, and looked at his brothers.

"He probably just needs a distraction," Leo suggested, with a look at the pizza. "And preferably something that's not food related…"

"You guys do realize why we usually eat in here instead of the kitchen, right?" Raph asked his brothers, and waved the TV remote at them.

"So, we're basically gonna let the TV do all the hard work?" Donnie asked, with a doubtful look.

"Why are you're making it sound like a bad thing?" Raph asked, with a suspicious glare.

"I'm just starting to see a trend here," Donnie told him. "Television is being used way past its intended domain nowadays. Procrastination, babysitting, company…It's probably just a matter of time before it can do your homework or even run a small business all by itself-"

"Donnie, stop ranting. This is good," Leo interrupted him as Raph turned on the TV. "This is the perfect way to get Mikey's mind off what happened to that kitten-

"_-violent crime rate in New Yor__k City up 8% since the last month-"_

"What the heck's wrong with people!?" Leo exclaimed, in shock.

The channel 6 news continued by showing some footage to illustrate the increasing violence in the city. However, most of the images were blurred out due to the graphic content.

"… Well, that's not gonna help," Donnie stated, and looked a bit quesy.

"Raph! Switch channel or something…!" Leo told him.

Raph quickly changed channel, while throwing Mikey an uneasy look to make sure that he hadn't noticed the unpleasant newscast.

"_And so, the mother lioness tries to wake up its cub, but the damages from the 6 ton elephant's feet has-"_

"Turn it off, turn it off!" Leo whispered, in panic.

"You _gotta_ be kidding me…!" Raph growled, in frustration and tried to hit the power button on the remote, but the turtle's fingers were big and the buttons were small…

"That's not the off-button," Donnie pointed out.

"You just muted it!" Leo said in frustration.

"That's the menu, Raph…"

"What the- You're back to the news again!"

"… aaand now you _un_-muted it."

"What are you doing, _don't pause_!"

Raph gritted his teeth in anger, and tossed the remote aside as he picked up a shuriken from his belt and threw it at the TV. The throwing star hit the power button, making it spark gleefully before the screen turned completely black. The three turtles exhaled in relief, and glanced carefully at Mikey's direction. But Mikey was no longer in the couch, and the only thing left on his seat was a cold piece of pizza.

"Where did he-" Leo began, but then noticed Mikey in the other end of the lair, heading towards his bedroom. "Mikey…!"

"Is it possible that we only made things worse?" Raph asked, more as a statement than a question.

"Street violence, murders, and mashed lion cubs…?" Leo said, with a groan and covered his face with his palm. "Seriously, what are the odds? We only have three channels on that thing…! "

"Wait, Mikey. Wait…!" Donnie called out, and skillfully jumped over the couch to go after him. "Don't go back to your room. You still got pizza left, and you have to eat something."

"I did," Mikey answered, without looking at him.

"Two bites don't make a meal, Mikey," Donnie told him, and stopped his brother by blocking the way.

"Two _bi__g_ bites..."

"Not even close, "Donnie stated.

"Well… It felt like it," Mikey claimed.

"Come on, buddy. You need to eat," Donnie said, and took Mikey's arm, ushering him to follow him back to the couch. "The human body, _and_ that of a mutated turtle, needs a variety of different nutrients every day in order to function properly. Like carbohydrates, proteins, minerals-"

"I don't want any carproterals, whatever that is... And I don't want any more pizza," Mikey said miserably, not moving an inch from the spot, despite Donnie's attempts.

"Well, I could make some ramen if you want?" Donnie suggested. "Nice, hot, delicious, ramen? … No? Okay, but how about we order some pizza gyoza from Murakami-san? We haven't eaten that for days. Sounds yummy, right? Or would you prefer-"

"Save it, Donnie. He's not going to eat anything," Leo sighed from the couch. "Unless you had a feeding tube in mind…"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Raph said with an unnerving grin.

"Could you be _less_ helpful?" Donnie asked Raph, not looking the least amused.

"I do what I can." Raph shrugged, and picked up a comic from the floor.

"No you're not," Leo stated, and walked over to his two younger brothers. "Don't listen to Raph, Mikey. If you don't want to eat, nobody's gonna force you. Let's do something fun instead. Is there anything else you'd like to do?"

"Going back to my room?" Mikey asked, and glanced at Leo.

"I was thinking anything that doesn't involve you brooding for another six hours," Leo suggested.

"… Or TV, for that matter," Donnie added, with a look at the TV-screen, which was still occasionally emitting tiny sparks from the damage.

"Anyway, there has to be something fun you've always wanted to do," Leo coaxed. "Come on, tell us what it is and we'll make it happen. Right Donnie?"

Donnie nodded eagerly in agreement as Mikey thought about this opportunity carefully, and seemed to go over his options in his mind.

"… Can I drive the shell raiser?"

Donnie's smile was slowly replaced by a horrified look and he just stared at Mikey.

"The shell raiser? Seriously?" Donnie asked, with dumbfounded expression. "Are you kidding me?! Just the thought of you behind the wheel of- On these streets- There are living _people_ on those roads-"

"Yes!" Leo interrupted Donnie, with small glare at his direction. "Yes, you can drive the shell raiser. Absolutely. No problem."

"Right now? In daytime? On the big roads, with real traffic?" Mikey asked, looking a little more interested now.

Donnie stared at Leo in panic and seemed to scream something to him telepathically. Leo looked less happy now than he had been eight seconds ago, and was thinking closely about whether this really was such a good idea.

"Sure. Why not?" Leo said eventually, and could hear Donnie slap his own face behind his back. "So, what do you say, Mikey? Let's go for it?"

"… I don't wanna," Mikey answered, and his face turned back to a gloomy expression as he turned around to leave.

"What the- Why not?" Leo asked, in confusion.

"I just don't feel like it," Mikey said tiredly. "Can I go back to my room now…?"

"No, you can't," Donnie said, and stopped Mikey by putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're not gonna feel better by shutting yourself in and shutting us out. Nothing's gonna change that way, if anything it'll only make you feel worse."

"Why do you care?" Mikey asked, without even looking up at Donnie.

"Of course we care!" Donnie replied, in shock. "Whatever gave you the idea that we don't?"

Mikey didn't answer, and instead looked at his room, which still happened to be missing a door.

"… Okay, that's taken completely out of context," Donnie said, in defense. "And for the record: that was Leo's idea. But don't worry about it. I'll fix that door in pinch."

"Yeah, 'cause you can fix anything…" Mikey mumbled bitterly.

"What are you talking about?" Donnie asked, and frowned. "Is this about the-"

Donnie stopped himself from finishing the sentence.

"Mikey, listen to me," Donnie tried again. "You can't blame yourself for what happened, you just can't."

"I'm _not_," Mikey replied, with a subtle glare.

"… What are you saying?" Donnie asked, and observed his little brother in confusion.

But Mikey didn't answer. He brushed away Donnie's hand from his shoulder, and then turned away from him. Donnie watched Mikey's back for a moment before running after him.

"…Mikey!" Donnie called out, and followed him. "Look, I know that you're upset that you couldn't save that kitten-"

"Well, neither could you!" Mikey snapped.

Donnie immediately stopped in his tracks, and took a step back. Mikey glared at him for a second, and then turned his back to him and disappeared into his room. Donnie didn't follow him this time. He just stared in front of himself as if struck by lightning, and didn't dare to move.

"Is he… Is he mad at me?" Donnie asked, looking completely baffled.

"Don't take it so hard, Donnie," Leo said and walked up to him. "It's Mikey we're talking about. He probably didn't mean any of that-"

"But he _did_ mean it," Donnie said, in shock. "Why would he be mad at me? Raph's the one being a jerk!"

"Try and think about this from Mikey's point of view," Leo reasoned. "Raph is just being Raph. He's _always_ a jerk. But you're the one he turned to for help. I think Mikey is having a hard time accepting that even you can fail sometimes-"

"How could I NOT fail!?" Donnie asked, in distress. "Did you see the state of that cat? It wasn't just bruised, Leo. It had a broken NECK. You don't have to be a veterinarian to know that _that's_ something you just can't fix! I did _everything_ anyone _possibly_ could do in that situation, I really did. But he can't expect me to bring things back to life, how am I supposed to live up to that!? I'm sorry that I couldn't do anything, but there was nothing that could be done! It was too late, it was too hurt, it was… It's just…"

Donnie trailed off, and was almost panting from the rant. Leo put a hand on his shoulder and Donnie looked up at him.

"… he can't really be blaming me for that, can he?" Donnie asked uncertainly.

"Well, you _were_ pretty useless back there," Raph told him from the couch, without looking up from the comic.

"Would it hurt you to be sensitive just for once?" Leo asked as Donnie gave Raph an annoyed glare.

"Yes it does. It makes my stomach feel funny…" Raph claimed sincerely.

"Okay, forget it," Leo sighed, and glanced worriedly at Mikey's room. "We really need our old Mikey back, guys. Is there anything we haven't tried yet?"

"I'd say there are a whole lot of things we haven't tried yet," Donnie stated. "Doesn't necessarily mean that we should, though..."

"Are you sure this isn't one of those problems that can be solved by punching or kicking something?" Raph asked. "…Or someone?

"Positive," Leo said, with a deadpan expression.

"Then I got nothing," Raph stated, and returned to the comic.

"Thanks… Hey, Don. Do you have any ideas- What are you doing?" Leo asked as he noticed that Donnie had picked up his t-phone.

"My idea is to call April," Donnie replied.

Leo sighed, and then snatched the phone right out of Donnie's hands.

"Hey!"

"Will you stop calling April all the time," Leo said, in frustration.

"Yeah, maybe she needs a break from a nerdy, needy, geek once in a while. Give the girl some space," Raph said helpfully.

"I'm not needy!" Donnie protested.

"You are a little needy," Leo stated, holding the phone on an arm's length away from Donnie. "You can't call her about every single thing just because you like her. We have a real problem here."

"And that's why I'm calling her," Donnie said in annoyance, and snatched back the phone. "April could have an idea of what to do about Mikey. She might be able to help."

"We already know what she thinks," Leo said, and took the phone back. "She agrees with Splinter, and Splinter doesn't want us to bother Mikey."

"I think the damage is pretty much done on that part," Raph pointed out.

"It can't hurt _asking_ her now, can it?" Donnie said, and took back the phone again, with a small glare at Leo.

"And _why_ do you have to ask _her_?" Leo asked. with an irritated gesture as he quickly took the phone back from Donnie. "Just so that you can talk to her? Hear her voice? Donnie, you obviously want to call her because you like her. What other reason could you possibly have-"

"Because she lost her mother!" Donnie retorted.

Leo went completely silence, and even Raph looked up in surprise at Donnie's outburst. Donnie didn't wait for a reply and simply took the phone back with a narrowed look.

"She's the only one here except from master Splinter who has actually lost someone, and right now, that's the closest we got to know what Mikey's going through," Donnie said, and hit a button on the phone. "I don't know how to help him. _Yo__u_ don't know to help him. April _might_ know!"

"Okay, fine," Leo said calmly, and shrugged. "Let's call April."

"Thanks- Hey!" Donnie said as Leo once again took the phone away from him.

"Not you," Leo stated. "I'll call her."

"What- Why!?" Donnie demanded to know.

"Trust me. I'm doing you a favor," Leo said, while looking for April's number. "It'll seem less desperate if you let someone else do it."

"I'm not desperate!" Donnie yelled angrily.

"… I can hear that," Leo said, and winced at Donnie's loud voice.

Donnie looked like if he was going to say something, but then just sighed and sat down in the couch next to Raph, with a gloomy expression. Raph absentmindedly patted him on the head as Leo made the call.

"Hello?" April's voice suddenly answered. "Guys, I'm just about to have dinner with my aunt. Can we take this really quick?"

"I'll try," Leo said apologetically. "Look, I know that you pretty much just left, but we wanted to ask you something. It's… kinda personal, but we really think it would help Mikey."

"So much for grieving in peace," April mumbled before adding. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Just answer this question," Leo told her. "How did you cope when, you know… Your mom-"

"You're comparing my mom with a dead kitten?" April asked uncertainly.

"What? NO! Of course not… Well, not exactly," Leo said, and slapped his forehead out of pure awkwardness.

"You sure you don't want to switch, Leo?" Donnie wondered, with the hint of a smile. Leo shot him a glare before returning to the phone.

"What I'm trying to ask you is… Do you have any personal experience that you think could help us, help Mikey…?"

"Wow, it was such a long time ago," April said and thought about this. "I honestly don't remember much of it. I'm not even sure if I got anything worth sharing. I guess that when you're a kid, you kinda filter out the bad stuff and the things that made you sad."

"Well, Mikey is pretty much a kid too," Leo said, with a crooked smile.

"I don't know what to say guys." April concluded. "I'm not sure what I did to cope. If you'd asked me ten years ago, I might have been able to answer. Or if dad was here, I could have asked him… He got way more experience when it comes to these sort of things. I've never even been to a funeral-"

"Wait! That could work," Leo said, in realization.

"… My dad?" April asked.

"No, I mean that we should give the kitten a funeral," Leo explained. "I think Mikey would like that."

"Yeah, nothing beats a good old funeral to cheer someone up," Raph pointed out.

"That's… actually not a bad idea," April said, in surprise.

"At least it would be a way for him to deal with it instead of just brooding in his room for a week or so," Donnie said.

"Are you guys serious?" Raph asked, and looked at his brothers. "It's a cat!"

"People bury their pets all the time, Raph," Donnie told him.

"People start fires all the time. People rob banks all the time. It doesn't mean it's something you should do," Raph stated.

"You would do it for Spike, wouldn't you?" Donnie asked. "Though, the lifespan of reptiles from the _Testudinidae_ family is generally pretty long, and assuming that Spike is a Russian tortoise, which I've always suspected, and considering his size, we could probably expect him to stick around for another 50 years, assuming that he gets to keep his good health and doesn't accidentally-"

Donnie suddenly stopped talking as he noticed Raph. The red clad turtle had dropped the comic on the floor, and was staring in front of him with a horrified look. Donnie studied him for a moment before giving him a pat on the shoulder, making Raph flinch from the sudden touch.

"He'll probably outlive you, tough guy," Donnie said comforting.

"Shut up," Raph muttered.

"So… Where should we bury it?" Leo asked, to get them back on topic. "We need a place with soft soil."

"In New York City?" April asked, in disbelief. "Not likely- Could you hold on for a sec? I'M ON THE PHONE, JUST START WITHOUT ME. I DON'T CARE IF IT GETS COLD! IT DOESN'T TASTE BETTER WHEN IT'S WARM EITHER!"

"… Is her aunt deaf?" Leo asked, with a pained expression while holding the phone as far away he could.

"How about a park?" Donnie suggested. "It looks nice, got lots of trees-"

"And people. We would have to wait until it gets dark," Leo said. "And that's when parks go from nice to creepy…"

"Do we really have to go so far to do it?" Raph asked. "What about the tree in the dojo?"

"I'm pretty sure Splinter would disagree on that…" Leo said.

"Sorry, I'm back now," April said, in the phone. "And I think I know just the place."

"Go ahead. Before Raph decides to just cremate the poor thing," Leo said.

"Have you guys heard of New York Botanical Garden?" April asked.

"I'm guessing it's a garden," Raph said.

"I visited it with my class a few weeks ago. It's this beautiful, enormous garden with plants and trees from all over the world. It's pretty cool actually."

"It _sounds_ perfect," Donnie admitted, and scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"Almost perfect," April corrected him. "The problem is that they're only open to 6PM, and you guys can't go there during the day without causing a freak show. No offense…"

"No worries. We'll just have to create our own opening hours," Leo said, with a smile and looked at the others. "So, who's gonna tell Mikey?"

* * *

Leo carefully peeked inside Mikey's bedroom. The younger turtle was lying face down in his bed again, and didn't seem to have heard him. Realizing that the room still lacked a door, Leo knocked a couple of times on the wall outside before entering.

"Mikey? Can I talk to you for a sec?" Leo asked. "Don't worry, I'm not here to drag you out in your feet again. I promise."

Leo hesitated and studied the bed. Mikey was lying deathly still. It was hard to tell if he was even breathing. Leo couldn't help but to feel an uneasy tug in his stomach just looking at him.

"… Are you sleeping, buddy?" Leo asked uncertainly.

"I can't," Mikey's muffled voice could be heard from the pillow. "… you guys are too loud."

"Right, sorry," Leo laughed apologetically, and invited himself in.

Leo stopped right beside the bed, thinking about what to say. He hadn't really rehearsed this, and wasn't sure how to begin. He started to wish that Donnie had gone in his place.

"Sooo…" Leo said, and looked at Mikey. "How are you feeling?"

Mikey didn't move nor give any sort of sign that he had even heard the question.

"… I guess that none of us have really asked you that today, huh?" Leo admitted, with a rueful smile

"No you haven't," Mikey mumbled, in response.

"Well, we should have," Leo stated, and scratched his neck. "Look, I just wanted to say sorry."

"For what?"

"Anything you can think of," Leo answered, with a sigh. "We were acting like pretty lousy brothers back there, and we should have been more considerate. You know, instead of cheering you up just to make us feel better..."

"… You didn't," Mikey told him sulkily.

"Yeah, we pretty much sucked at it," Leo said, with a semi smile. "I'm not really cut out for this sort of stuff, none of us are. Raph has the same emotional capacity as gravel, and Donnie... Well, Donnie is special."

Mikey made a huffing sound, but didn't say anything.

"You _were_ kinda rough on him earlier," Leo told Mikey, and looked away casually. "Man, he did NOT take that well…"

"I didn't see it," Mikey simply replied.

"Then you should have stayed for the whole show," Leo explained, with a smile. "I don't think even a rejection from April could make him feel that bad. I'm telling you, the guy was pretty crushed by what you said."

Mikey was quiet, but turned his head ever so slightly towards him. Leo could see a hint of regret in his eyes.

"What I'm trying to say is that he's beating himself up enough as it is," Leo said. "And being as obsessive compulsive as Donnie is, he'll probably be doing it over and over again…Do you really think he deserves that?"

"No…" Mikey admitted in a low voice, before burying his face to the pillow again.

"Good. Now, I just wanted to- Seriously, how are you breathing through that thing?" Leo interrupted himself while watching Mikey and the pillow. "…Are you getting any air?"

"Sort of," Mikey mumbled. "Or maybe it's just the same stuff I breathe out. I dunno, it smells funny…"

"Stop it. Donnie says that it's bacteria from the floor," Leo said. "Anyway, the thing we were talking about earlier… Well, it's about the kitten."

Mikey sighed miserably from somewhere inside the pillow, and buried his face deeper into the home of floor bacteria.

"I know that you… didn't get the chance to say goodbye or anything," Leo continued, trying to not sound too awkward. "So, we came up with an idea. Would you care to hear it?"

Leo paused to give his brother a chance to respond, but Mikey didn't say anything. Leo took a deep breath, and sat down on the bed.

"Well, since you're not exactly in the position to stop me," Leo stated, and scooted right next to Mikey. ", here's the idea. What do you say about giving that kitten a proper funeral?"

Leo watched Mikey's reaction carefully, patiently awaiting the answer. But Mikey didn't reply to him. After a minute, Leo's shoulders slumped, and he got up from the bed with a dejected look and went to the door.

"… a funeral?" Mikey suddenly asked, and looked up.

"Yes…!" Leo hurriedly said, and quickly sat down on the bed again. "A nice one. April have some really good ideas, she can tell you all about it. It'll be good, I promise."

Mikey took in this information, and Leo could tell that he was processing the whole idea in his mind. He then turned to Leo, with a glimmer of interest in his eyes.

"So where is the funeral?" Mikey asked curiously.

"We've found a place. Don't worry, it's perfect. We'll go as soon as it gets dark," Leo told him with a smile. "Oh, and there's one, tiny detail… We're gonna have to break in to a botanic garden. No biggie, just the usual. So… what do you think of all this?"

Mikey hesitated for a moment, and then reached down for the box underneath his bed.

"You've kept the kitten under your bed this whole time?" Leo wondered, with an uncertain look.

Mikey looked at Leo while making a perfect impression of a living question mark.

"… Or maybe there simply isn't such a thing as a 'good' place to keep a dead kitten," Leo admitted.

Mikey sat up, and then opened the lid. Leo and Mikey both watched the tiny kitten inside the box for a minute, without as much as saying a word.

"Do you think he'd like that?" Mikey asked. "A funeral?"

"I wouldn't know," Leo said sincerely. "You knew him better than anyone. I think it's all up to you."

Mikey looked at Leo, and then back to the kitten again with a furrowed brow.

"… I think he would," Mikey stated, and closed the lid.

"You know what?" Leo smiled. "I think so too."

There was suddenly another knock on the wall outside the room. Leo and Mikey turned around only to see Donnie inviting himself in.

"Don't mind me, I'm not staying," Donnie explained. "Um, Leo? Can I have a quick word with you?"

"About what?" Leo asked

"It's about… Um, just a sec. Have you told Mikey yet?" Donnie asked, with an uncertain look at his little brother.

"Don't worry, he's all for it," Leo said, and nodded towards Mikey.

"Oh, okay. Good, good," Donnie said, and cleared his throat a little. "Well, I've run "botanic garden" in an online search engine to find out the most efficient way to get there by night, and, more importantly, what kind of equipment we ought to bring in order to break in without any problem."

"That's… good I suppose?" Leo said, with a raised eyebrow. "So what is the problem?"

"I've counted five of them," Donnie answered.

"Gardens?" Leo asked, in surprise.

"Botanic ones," Donnie confirmed.

"So what? Just pick the closest one," Leo told him.

"We can't do that. April said that the one she visited was perfect," Donnie protested. "We have to choose the one she went to."

"Then choose the one she went to," Leo replied simply.

"Yes, I've been searching for every botanic garden in as close proximity of New York City as possible, because she mentioned the address!" Donnie retorted.

"Fine, ask her," Leo said tiredly. "And yes, this time _you_ can call her-"

"Hello, April? Hi, it's Donatello!" Donnie said, with a gleeful voice as he had already picked up his phone. "So, there are a few details I wanted to ask you about…"

Leo and Mikey watched Donnie in a mix of confusion and disbelief as the purple clad turtle happily left the room.

"Dude, does he have April on speed dial or something?" Mikey asked out loud.

"Mikey, I think he _invented_ those t-phones just to have April on speed dial," Leo concluded, without even the hint of sarcasm in his voice.

* * *

**Next time:** Let's see how smoothly you can break into a botanic garden to arrange an unauthorized cat burial, shall we? Also, what about those thugs? Should we move on and forget about what they did? I think not…

**Author's Note:** Thank you for reading this far! As I mentioned earlier, this chapter was very difficult to write… So if you have a few extra seconds to spare, PLEASE tell me what you think of it. Anything! Good or bad, too long or too short…? Did I do anything wrong? Or right for that matter? I really need to know what you guys think in order to make the next chapter as enjoyable for you to read as possible. (My self-esteem isn't awesome, so if nobody tells me anything, I usually assume that my work sucks…)

Please stick around for the end! I think you'll like it. ^-^


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Once again: this chapter was _not_ supposed to take this long. I'm sorry if I've kept anyone waiting! ( ´A`) I don't understand college at all. Why can't I write one chapter of a fanfic and hand in _that_ as my final assignment instead of some narrative analysis about politics?

But never mind all that IRL nonsense. Here's chapter four. :) Please tell me if there's anything you like, or anything that you don't like for that matter. Also, if those pesky grammar-goblins have been roaming the text, tell me where so that I can rid this story of them.

Thank you!

(And a BIG thanks to "n00btmntfan", who has been my Yoda in the art of English grammar, and given me the self-esteem boost needed to finish this story. ^-^)

* * *

Donnie opened the sliding doors, just enough for him to peek inside Splinter's room. It was pitch black, but the crack in the door provided him with a small ray of light. He could barely make out Splinter's body on the floor. His sensei was lying on his back on a mattress, hands on his chest and eyes closed.

The turtle squinted and observed him suspiciously for a moment. Splinter never looked truly relaxed, so it was always hard to tell whether he was asleep or not. …Or breathing, for that matter. His master was lying deathly still and not even a whisker moved. Donnie had to restrain himself from running over to him and checking his pulse.

"Um… Master Splinter? A-Are you awake?" Donnie whispered, and waited nervously for an answer. "Just… out of curiosity. No particular reason, really…"

Someone had to check if Splinter was asleep, and the choice had naturally landed upon Donnie. If Splinter woke up and wanted an explanation as to why they were still awake in the middle of the night, Donnie was more likely to succeed in lying his way out of the situation. Not because Donnie was a great liar, but rather because they knew from experience that Splinter was more prone to believe him than the rest of his brothers.

Donnie watched his sensei for almost a minute, and then sighed in relief. He was fairly certain that Splinter was out cold and wouldn't wake up until next morning. And hopefully, they would all be back by then.

"Okay, good… Um, see you in a few hours," Donnie said, and was just about to leave, but then hesitated. "And, since you're obviously heavily asleep, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that we're off to do a little breaking and entering in the New York City botanical garden to bury that kitten we mentioned earlier, I hope that's okay, don't stay up and wait for us, please don't get mad, great, bye."

Donnie quickly closed the doors and ran out of the dojo. He didn't stop until he reached the TV couch, where Leo and Raph were currently sitting and studying a map of the city.

"I don't see the problem," Raph stated, with folded arms. "Just bring something heavy and smash the door open."

"No. 'Heavy' makes noise and leaves a mess," Leo explained. "And the last thing we want is for someone to wake up and call the police."

"What kind of cop would believe them?" Raph asked in disbelief. "It's a freaking garden! Who breaks into a place to steal plants?"

"A persistent paleoethnobotanist?" Donnie suggested, and sat down next to Leo.

"Donnie, stop making up words," Leo said calmly, while studying the map. "You're confusing Raph."

"No he's not," Raph stated, and cracked a knuckle. "But my fist has this weird itch…"

"I'm not making it up, it's a real profession!" Donnie said indignantly. "Just check the dictionary. It's an archeological sub field that focuses on-"

"Donnie, stop being pretentious," Leo continued, still without taking his eyes off the map.

"No. I'm tired of dumbing myself down for you guys," Donnie said, with a stubborn look.

"Who are you calling dumb?" Raph asked with a glare, and clenched his itching fist.

"Alright! Let's go!"

The three turtles looked up only to see Mikey eagerly leave his room with a huge backpack, which he must have found in a dumpster at some point. He jumped and landed skillfully next to his brothers and dropped the heavy bag on the floor, with a noise not unlike that of a rhino hitting concrete.

"Is he moving out?" Donnie asked in confusion, as Leo went over to the backpack and studied it with a skeptical look.

"Mikey, you don't need all that stuff," Leo stated, with a gesture to the packing.

"How do you know? You've never been to a funeral before either," Mikey said stubbornly.

"… He's actually got a point," Donnie told Leo.

"I got lots of points!" Mikey informed them, with a beaming smile. "I got everything we need in this bag. Trust me, bro. I really put my mind in packing this stuff."

"Is that why it's so dense?" Donnie couldn't help but to ask.

"Here, let me help you with that," Raph told Mikey, and picked up the backpack with the strength of someone who punched more than just training dolls all day.

"Hey…!" Mikey protested, as Raph then proceeded by opening the bag.

"What? I said I'll help you." Raph shrugged. "You'll break your spine in two if you try to carry this thing. Geez, what have you packed…?"

As soon as Raph loosened the last strap, the backpack burst open and spilled out a small flood of objects such as a toothbrush, card games, pencils, comic books, throwing stars, at least three different flashlights, and various 'precious' junk.

"Dude, that's gonna take forever to close again," Mikey informed him, as Raph sighed and started removing the contents of the bag.

"Let's see… This, you don't need," Raph declared, and threw out a harmonica nobody even knew that Mikey possessed. "This is unnecessary. This too. And this. You're NOT bringing this. Leaving behind. Leave, leave, leave. You're absolutely not taking this with you. Not this either. And this-"

Raph picked up a device that looked a lot like car battery with a dozen of wires connected to different parts of it. It was emitting a low, buzzing noise. He stared at it in confusion.

"… and I'm pretty sure we don't need this either," Raph said, with an uncertain look.

"Hey, that's mine!" Donnie suddenly yelled, almost causing Raph to drop the contraption.

"Huh. I wondered what it was doing in my room," Mikey admitted.

"It wasn't _in_ your room, it was in _my lab_!" Donnie scolded Mikey, and took the object back from Raph. "I thought I had misplaced it somewhere… Why would you take it when you don't even know what it does?"

"'Cause I wanted _to know_ what it does." Mikey shrugged, and watched the device with the eyes of a child who wants to open a Christmas present. "So, what is it? A game? A spy thing? Oh! Does it play music?"

"It's an electrical charger, which when in contact with other power sources such as batteries, or let's say any Kraang tech, overloads the circuits which then causes a chain reaction that overheats the core, and forces it to expand which in turn causes a massive explosion of devastating proportions," Donnie explained deadpan, not looking the least amused. "In other words, it's extremely sensitive to any electrical current… And I put it away because it's malfunctioning!"

"Oh. Good thing I didn't put it next to the flashlights then, huh? … Or this thing," Mikey said, with an apologetic laugh, and stuck his arm down the bag to pick up the remote control to the TV.

"Mikey…" Leo sighed, and took the remote. "Put the stuff back. If we're going to sneak inside the place, we need to travel light. And I've already made a list of things to bring."

Leo held up a sheet of paper, which Donnie immediately snatched and skimmed through.

"Let's see here. Hm. Good, good..." Donnie mumbled as he paced around Leo in a circle while reading the list. "Okay, not bad. But…"

"But what?" Leo asked, with a narrow look. "I'm telling you, this is all we need. I've gone through it eight times. Unless you have a problem with that?"

"Not at all, I completely agree with everything on here," Donnie assured him. "However, with this being a funeral and all, I do have one question…"

"Of course you do, Donnie," Leo said, with a sarcastic smile. "And what might that be?"

Donnie held up the list in front of Leo, so that he could read it himself.

"What the heck are we supposed to dig with?" Donnie asked.

Leo's smile was replaced with look of surprise, and he slapped himself in the face.

"Shovels…!" Leo groaned.

"That would be my suggestion," Donnie nodded.

"I can't believe this…" Leo sighed, in frustration. "Okay, quick. Do we have any shovels?"

"I… Actually, I have no idea," Donnie said in realization.

"Okay, it's not like we're gonna have to dig a lot… Maybe we could just use our weapons?" Leo suggested.

"To dig a grave?" Donnie asked.

"Ooh… That does sound a bit wrong, doesn't it?" Leo said, and cringed.

"Not to mention tedious," Donnie told him. "Like eating noodles with a pair of toothpicks."

"What about the box of gardening stuff that Splinter keeps in his room?" Mikey suddenly asked.

The three brothers just stared at Mikey as if he'd just quoted Socrates, which was about as likely to happen as him saying something smart. Though, Mikey had always been full of surprises.

"Splinter keeps a box of gardening stuff in his room…?" Leo asked, in disbelief. "And you know this _how _exactly?"

"Saw it in his closet once," Mikey said, with a shrug. "…and I asked him. Seriously, have none of you dudes ever wondered how that tree got there?"

"… Not lately?" Donnie answered, and scratched his neck.

"You guys stay here. I'll go get them." Leo said, and folded the map.

"Alright, but hurry up, will you?" Donnie asked worriedly, and picked up his t-phone to check the time. "April is probably already waiting for us."

"Aww, that's cute," Raph said with a grin. "Donnie doesn't wanna be late for his date."

"It's not 'cute', it's serious," Donnie corrected him, in annoyance. "It's in the middle of the night, it's dark, and it's New York City. Excuse me if I'm not comfortable with her being alone right now…"

"And she's soon to be a kunoichi," Leo added. "She can take care of herself for twenty minutes. Now, I'll go get the stuff from Splinter's room while you guys-"

"Oh, right. Hang on a sec!" Mikey suddenly interrupted, and darted back towards his room.

"How can he possibly have more stuff in there!?" Raph asked, with an angry gesture. "He must have packed his whole room in that bag-"

Raph went quiet as Mikey suddenly returned with a shoe box in his hands. He was walking calmly now, as if it contained something fragile. Raph just stared at it before looking away uncomfortably. Donnie and Leo didn't say a word and just watched their little brother, who was holding on to the shoe box tightly as if he was afraid to lose it.

"Do you think it's okay to bury him in this?" Mikey asked them curiously. "Maybe I should get something nicer?"

"It's perfect, Mikey. Don't worry about it," Leo assured him.

"I dunno…" Mikey said with a critical look at the shoe box. "I mean, I just grabbed the first thing I could find in that alley. I could get something better, you know?"

"Why?" Raph suddenly asked.

Leo and Donnie stared at him with narrowed eyes, ready to protect their little brother from anything Raph was about to say.

"I mean," Raph continued and ignored the double glare from his brothers. "... You're already throwing him a whole funeral, right? That's way more than most cats get, and especially a stray. He's probably just happy that someone cares about him. Do you really think he minds what you bury him in?"

Leo and Donnie looked completely dumbfounded at Raph while Mikey was carefully considering his words.

"Yeah… You're right," Mikey said, looking much happier. "Thanks, Raph."

"Okay, time to get a move on," Leo told them, and started to walk towards the dojo. "You guys go ahead. I'll meet you at the topside in five minutes."

"Can I call April and tell her that we're on our way?" Donnie quickly asked.

Leo stopped for a second to think.

"No," Leo stated.

"I'm calling her anyway…" Donnie muttered, making Leo laugh and then leave.

Leo swiftly snuck back into the dojo and entered Splinter's room quietly, making sure to only move in the shadows. His sensei was still lying on his mattress, seemingly still asleep. But Leo knew better than to underestimate him. He crept closer to the closet where he knew Splinter kept his personal belongings. He opened it carefully, and wondered when Mikey could have gone through Splinter's private stuff. Leo made a mental note to start locking the door to his room.

Leo looked inside the closet and made a low groaning sound. There was more than just one box. In fact, there were several of them. Leo felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He didn't want to go through Splinter's private things. Well, one part of him was curious, he had to admit. But the dominant part had too much respect for his father than to look through his secrets and memories.

But he didn't have time for seconds thoughts now. Leo picked one box at random and peeked inside it. To his surprise, the box contained a trowel and a small rake. Leo stared at the items for a second before closing the lid again. Huh. What were the odds?

"Are you planning on switching weapons, my son?" Splinter stated behind Leo's back, causing the young turtle to drop the box with a crash. Splinter studied the content of the box curiously. "A little shorter than your katanas, I believe."

Leo turned around and stared at Splinter with boggled eyes. Splinter smiled at him kindly.

"You… were never really asleep, were you," Leo stated, and could still feel his heart pounding his chest like someone who'd just cheated death.

"I was," Splinter replied, and picked up the box. "And very much so. You and your brothers are louder than you might think."

"I guess we are," Leo said, with an apologetic laugh. "Sorry about that, sensei."

"Sorry for what, exactly?" Splinter asked, and looked at Leo sternly. "What are you boys doing up this late?"

Leo's mind went completely blank. He had never been very comfortable with lying to Splinter, and he would need a great lie to get himself out of this. But the fact was that Splinter had already seen the box. In fact, he was holding it. It was game over, and they were in a bit of a hurry.

"We need to borrow that stuff for Mikey," Leo answered truthfully. "I know that you told us to leave him alone, but you see… we kinda decided not to."

"I can see that," Splinter stated without as much as a frown.

"We didn't mean to disrespect you or anything, sensei, but… He was in a really bad shape, and we just couldn't leave him like that," Leo continued. "And then we came up with this idea that if we arranged a funeral for that kitten and, well, tried to make something nice out of it, then… Maybe that would help Mikey cope with the whole thing better. I'm sorry, but we had to do what we thought were best for Mikey, and-"

"I never said that you weren't allowed to help him," Splinter interrupted calmly.

"But… You totally did!" Leo protested, but then looked uncertain. "… wait, you didn't?"

"I told you to be there for him when he needed you," Splinter clarified. "In other words, I did not expect your attempts to cheer him up to work. But I never said that you should not keep trying. Did Michelangelo appreciate this idea of yours?"

"… Yes," Leo said in surprise. "Yes, I think he really did. He's practically himself again."

"Good," Splinter smiled, and gave Leo the box of tools. "I have grown accustomed to a certain degree of chaos around me when I meditate. I do not enjoy changing my habits, and I am grateful that I will not have to in this case. Now go."

"Hai, sensei," Leo said with a smile, and hurried out.

"And Leonardo," Splinter said, just when Leo was about to leave the room. "Make sure that you are back in your beds in decent time. Funeral or not, you have training early tomorrow morning. And that goes for _all_ of you."

* * *

April kicked a soda can as hard as she could, and then sat down on the cold stone stairs to the building. She picked up her t-phone and checked the time again. Where the heck were they?

"Don't mind me…" April said out loud to anyone who might be curious. "I'm just an average plant-fan who can't wait to watch some flowers and tree trunks. In fact, I'm so eager that I'm here nine hours early…! But hey, nothing's wrong with that, right?"

April glanced grumpily at the can she just had kicked. But the bitterness washed off her as she felt a small, moral tug in her chest instead. She got up on her feet, picked up the can, and threw it in a nearby dumpster.

The sound of metal against metal made April turn around rapidly, only to see the dark glass doors to New York's Botanic Garden open up all by themselves. On the other side stood Donnie and seemed to be putting back some lock picking tools in his belt while Mikey was happily waving to her from behind his shoulder.

"Guys, what the heck?" April asked, and walked up to them. "You said we'd meet at the entrance!"

"I thought this was the entrance?" Mikey said, with a confused look at the angry redhead.

"Yeah, your point being?" Raph asked her, in annoyance.

"Nothing," April sighed, and walked inside. "I guess I just assumed that we were going to break in together."

"Aw, don't worry April," Raph said and ruffled her hair, to April's but most of all Donnie's disapproval. "There's always next time."

"Let's hope not," Leo told him sternly, and closed the door behind them carefully.

"So, how did you guys get inside?" April asked. "Obviously not through the front door…"

"The roof is made out of glass," Leo informed her. "We're ninjas. I think you get the picture."

"So you're not worried that the staff here will notice a huge hole in the roof the size of a mutated turtle?" April asked, with a doubtful look.

"Not until the morning they won't," Leo smiled. "Lead the way, April."

"Awesome! A gift shop!" Mikey exclaimed, and made a beeline for it, but didn't get far before Donnie grabbed the back of his shell and effectively halted him in his tracks.

"We're already breaking and entering. Let's not add shoplifting to the list, shall we?" Donnie said, and steered his little brother away from the temptation.

"So what took you guys so long?" April asked as the turtles followed her. "Donnie said that you were only ten minutes away!"

"We would have been here in seven if it weren't for the code lock on the door," Donnie answered apologetically. "I honestly didn't suspect them to have one, and certainly not that advanced. One wrong move and the alarm would have gone off."

"And you still managed to open it?" April asked impressed.

"Yes. With patience..." Donnie said, with a sigh that indicated that the procedure had almost depleted his supply of patience. "In fact, with just a few modifications, that electrical charger Mikey initially packed would probably have busted that lock open in a few seconds."

"I _told you_ I packed it for a good reason!" Mikey said, with an accusing glare at his brother.

"You didn't even know what it did. You thought it played music!" Donnie replied.

"… At least Mikey seems to feel better," April said in a low voice to Leo.

"He does," Leo confirmed, with a glance at his two bickering siblings. "Who'd think that it would take a funeral to cure Mikey's depression?"

"Well, he's a special guy," April smiled, and Leo nodded in agreement.

April opened a door and let them inside the greenhouse part of the building. The brothers stopped for a moment and stared at place before their eyes. To four turtles, who had spent their whole lives in the sewers, this didn't come close to anything they had ever seen before. There were trees, tall as houses. Flowers as small as pins or big as footballs. And there were colors everywhere. Just the thought of all this existing in the midst of the streets and smoke of New York was baffling. April motioned to them to get a move on, and Leo quickly ushered the others to follow her.

"You know," Raph said, with a cautious look at their surroundings. ", with our luck there's bound to be some mutated plant hiding in here somewhere. Or Snakeweed. I've heard that the dating market for giant, mutated weed monsters are pretty sparse."

"Are you absolutely sure that there's no one else here?" Leo asked April suspiciously.

"Guys, relax," April said reassuringly. "It's a garden. Not a state prison."

"Are you saying that nobody is guarding the garden?" Mikey asked, and kept turning his head to look at all the plants and trees. "Don't they have a garden guard or something? No, wait! The guardian gardener of the garden! The royal garden guard! Oh man, there are so many levels to this…"

"I think you're done," Raph said in annoyance, but then suddenly stopped when the light from a flashlight suddenly hit his face.

The group of intruders immediately stopped and stared at the night watchman in front of them. And the watchman stared at them too. He was holding the flashlight in a vice grip and his eyes looked like they were trying to run and hide.

"April…" Leo said in a low, oddly calm voice. "Didn't you say ten seconds ago that this place was empty…?"

"Well, either this guy is just a figment of our shared imagination or I was obviously wrong…!" April answered, with a stiff smile but with a clear edge in her voice.

The watchman seemed to just realize that this nightmare wouldn't go away on its own, and thus opened his mouth to scream. Raph quickly snatched Donnie's bō staff and hit the guy hard over the head, causing the watchman to drop to the ground like a puppet without strings.

"What the heck did you do that for!?" Donnie yelled at Raph, and snatched the staff back from him.

"Do you have to ask? He saw our faces!" Raph said in defense.

"And so you beat him _unconscious_?!"

"Of course I did! We can't let him run off and tell everyone about us!"

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Donnie yelled. "He was only doing his _job_! _We_ are the ones breaking in here, which makes _us_ the criminals! Not him!"

"Guys, keep it down…" Leo begged them, with an uncomfortable look.

"Why?!" Donnie wanted to know. "Raph just knocked out the only person in the whole building who could possibly hear us!"

"He said _s__hut up__!_" Raph growled to Donnie, and clenched his fist.

"Guys, GUYS!" Mikey interrupted.

Donnie and Raph stopped fighting for a second to look at Mikey. Their little brother glared at them disapprovingly.

"Show some respect, okay?" Mikey told them, still holding the shoe box in a tight grip. His two brothers stared at him awkwardly for a minute before looking away in regret. Leo simply slapped his forehead in annoyance.

"So, what do we do with this guy then?" April asked them, with a gesture to the unconscious watchman.

"… We have a shovel," Raph stated, leaving the details of his proposal to their imagination.

"Um… Alright, I think I got it," Donnie said after a moment of thought. "If we place him somewhere strategic, he might wake up thinking that he just dozed off and dreamt the whole thing."

"And how did he managed to dream up a bump on his head?" Raph asked, with a skeptic look.

"I don't _know_, Raph, since I'm not the one _who gave it to him_…!" Donnie retorted, with a look that would like to give Raph a lot more than just a bump on the head.

"We don't have time for this!" Leo said, and walked up between his two brothers. He sighed and shook his head. "This was SO not part of the plan..."

"The part where there was a dude here or the part where Raph knocked him out?" Mikey asked curiously.

"Okay, okay… Let me think," Donnie said, looking stressed. "So… Um. _Clearly_, this," Donnie said and gestured to the body on the ground, ", is something that we'll have to take care of. Sooner rather than later, I imagine. But right now, we have a cat to bury."

"Well said, Don," Raph told him, and grabbed a hold of the man. In the next second, he had thrown the limp body over his shoulder like a sack of dirty laundry.

"You're not serious," Donnie stated.

"I was thinking 'the more the merrier'," Raph said, with a shrug that made the watchman's head dangle like some kind of morbid fishing lure.

"But that's… Leo…!" Donnie said, and turned to the leader.

" … I think we better bring him, "Leo said after a moment of thought.

"What!?"

"It's the only way for us to keep an eye on him," Leo explained. "And to make sure that he doesn't run off and call the police. Or write about us in his journal…"

"And your solution is to bring him with us? What if he wakes up?!"

"Then I assume that Raph will just knock him out again," Leo simple answered, and turned to April. "Let's keep moving."

As the team of four turtles and two humans, one being unconscious, made their way through the jungle-like environment, Mikey was observing the watchman on Raph's shoulder with childlike interest.

"What do you reckon his name is?" Mikey asked.

"Probably something meek," Raph deduced. "Like Randall. Or Ernest."

"I think he looks like a Kevin."

"Mikey, you're not renaming the watchman," Leo told him sternly.

* * *

"So, I was thinking somewhere around here," April told them, and stopped. "What do you think?"

They had reached a part of the garden that was exclusive for trees of various colors and shapes. Mikey immediately ran up to one of them with an excited look.

"Guys! Over here!" He called out, even though they were barely ten feet away from each other. "What about this spot?"

"Wherever you think is good, Mikey," Leo said, while Donnie was reading the sign and picked up a botany book he apparently had "borrowed" from the gift shop earlier.

"… that's a Manchineel tree," Donnie said, with a hollow voice when he looked up the name.

"I _know_ it's a tree, bro," Mikey said with a confident grin. "Cats like trees. That's why I picked the place."

"It's also one of the most poisonous trees on earth," Donnie stated.

Mikey's grin was replaced with a hesitant look, and he seemed to go over this new information in his head.

"How poisonous?" April asked curiously.

"The leaves are toxic, the trunk is toxic…" Donnie read from the book. "Standing underneath the tree during rain can cause blistering to the skin. It's prone to cause severe allergic reactions. If you burn it, the smoke may cause blindness, and some of its toxins are unidentified which makes it difficult to produce an antidote. The fruits are presumably toxic too, but it's uncertain to which degree since no one has ever been stupid enough to eat one."

The turtles started to almost subconsciously back away from the tree, except from Donnie who was busy reading the book.

"Who would bring that thing to New York?!" Raph demanded to know.

"It says here that it's endangered," Donnie said helpfully.

"Not enough!"

"Guys, over here!" April called out from somewhere further down the path.

The turtles followed her voice and found her together with a delicate tree with widespread branches of soft, pink flowers. April was standing next to it, looking proud.

"It's a cherry tree," Donnie said, in surprise.

"Pretty…!" Mikey stated, with wide eyes.

"I think it's settled then," Leo smiled, and started to pick up the gardening tools from his bag.

Raph dropped the watchman indifferently on the ground to help Leo dig. Ten minutes later, they had made a perfectly square shaped hole in the soft soil beneath the tree, about two feet deep. Leo carefully smoothed out the edges and then motioned to Mikey to bring the box. Mikey didn't come forward immediately. Instead, he opened the lid and looked down at the kitten. April looked over his shoulder at the tiny creature inside the box.

"Oh, Mikey…" April said in a low voice, and watched the kitten sadly. "It was so cute."

"Yeah…" Mikey confirmed with a nod. He put away the lid and then carefully lowered the box into the hole. The kitten looked so peaceful that it was hard to imagine that it wasn't sleeping. Everyone looked from one another a bit awkwardly.

"So… What now?" Raph asked.

"I guess that… someone should say a couple of words?" Leo suggested, with a shrug.

"I think that Leo should." Mikey said with an encouraging nod.

"Me…?" Leo asked in disbelief. "Why do you think that I should do it?"

"Who else?" Raph told him, while trying to prop up the watchman into a sitting position, but with little success. "And I think we all agree that I probably should do as little talking as possible."

"I concur with Raph," Donnie said. "And I also think that Leo should say something. It's actually pretty appropriate, if you think about it."

"If you think about what?" Leo wanted to know.

"Well, if I remember correctly," Donnie explained. ", according to Japanese customs, it's usually the oldest son's responsibility to handle the funeral arrangements when a family member passes away."

"Donnie, with all due respect; this cat was hardly a family member," Leo said.

"… But he doesn't have a family anymore," Mikey told Leo.

Leo stared at his little brother with a guilty look, and then sighed in defeat.

"Something tells me that this is just one of many things we should have thought about before leaving the lair…" Leo mumbled.

"It's okay, bro. You'll do great," Mikey said with confidence, and put a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Just speak from your heart."

Leo glanced at Mikey with a somewhat doubtful look. He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes to think. He went through his mind to come up with something to say, and then cleared his throat with a look at the kitten.

"Alright…" Leo began. "We have gathered here today… Tonight, to be precise… To honor the memory of…"

Leo went silent. He sighed again and then turned to Mikey.

"Mikey. Did the kitten have a name?" Leo asked politely.

"Yeah?" Mikey answered, and tilted his head with a clueless look.

"Seriously?" Raph couldn't help but to ask. "When did you have time to name it? It was more dead than alive when you-"

Leo stepped mercilessly on Raph's toe, causing to red clad turtle to gasp in pain. Leo didn't even look at the damage he'd caused, and focused entirely on Mikey.

"Please tell us his name, Mikey," Leo said kindly.

"Klunk," Mikey told him while looking down at the kitten. "Or, that's what I was going to name him."

Leo watched his little brother for a moment in silence, and then patted him on the shoulder.

"Klunk it is," He stated, and cleared his throat again. "Okay, where were we? Right. We've gathered here to bid Klunk farewell. His life was taken far too early, leaving many close friends behind. Mostly us."

Leo hesitated and tried to think of what to say next. Donnie glared at Raph who wasn't as much paying attention to the funeral but rather busy trying to keep Kevin the watchmen from falling face down in the dirt.

"But… Even though he's no longer with us," Leo continued. "… He lives on in our memories. And hearts. We never got to know him very well, but I'm glad we're doing this for him. I hope it will help his kitty soul find peace… So… Earth to earth, dust to dust, and… Um…"

Leo looked a bit awkward and turned to Donnie.

"Donnie, do you know how the rest goes?" Leo whispered.

"I'm confused whether this funeral is going in a Christian direction or more of a Budhist-inspired one," Donnie told him.

"Forget it," Leo sighed, and turned back to the box. "Rest in peace, Klunk."

Mikey nodded approvingly at Leo's speech with a solemn look on his face.

"And now everyone say something," Mikey told them.

Raph looked up so fast that he accidentally dropped Kevin on the ground, while both Donnie and April looked at each other uncertainly.

"I'll start," Mikey stated with a content look and picked up a piece of paper from his belt.

"You wrote down what to say?" Leo asked. "I wish I had done that…"

"I had to. It's a poem." Mikey clarified.

Raph made a painful groan at this revelation, but was cut off by a pointy elbow from April.

"I don't usually write," Mikey continued with a skeptic look at the paper. "And I probably can't spell that well. But I hope he'll like it anyway."

Mikey read out loud:

_I'm sorry that I wasn't faster. And for waiting too long._

_Those guys hurt you a lot, and killing you was wrong._

_I'm sorry I couldn't save you. '__Cause I really, really tried._

_Your brothers and sisters too. I'm sorry that they died._

_I hope that cat heaven r__ocks. I bet it's full of catnip and tuna and stuff to do._

_At least you're with your family now. And families are pretty great too._

_._

No one said a word. April wiped away something from her cheeks, but she didn't make a sound. The three turtle brothers stared at Mikey in utter silence. No one knew what to say.

"What?" Mikey asked, with a narrowed look. "You guys _so_ don't get poetry…"

"Mikey. That was amazing," Donnie told him, in astonishment.

"For real?" Mikey asked, in surprise.

"Not gonna lie. That poem was great," April concurred sincerely.

"Yeah, and 'great' is pretty good coming from you, " Raph said, with his arms folded.

"Nice job, little brother." Leo said, not without looking a tad bit proud.

"Alright! Thanks, guys," Mikey said, with a bright smile, and safely tucked the poem back in his belt. "So, who wants to say something next?"

The others glanced briefly at each other, with Raph looking panicky over the bare thought of having to talk.

"I think…" Donnie pondered while scratching his chin. "… That you pretty much said everything I wanted to say."

"Same here," April said, with a nervous smile and shrugged.

"What she said," Raph stated with a nod to April and Donnie, and picked up the gardening trowel. "So are we filling this up now, or what?"

"Not just yet," Leo said and took the trowel from Raph, like a parent not trusting a child with a pair of scissors. "April? You wanna start?"

"Sure," April answered and opened her backpack. "I got this from Murakami-san. He said he didn't mind if I took it."

April held up a plastic, golden cat. It was quite fat and was sitting down with one paw constantly waving at them.

"It's a lucky cat," April explained to the turtles. "Pretty neat, huh?"

"Pretty ironic, I'd say," Raph said.

"Great idea, April," Donnie said encouragingly while trying to pinch Raph, but his brother batted his hands away in annoyance.

April ignored the fighting brothers and placed the cat in the box next to the kitten. Leo then picked up a small pouch from his bag and emptied it in his hand. It contained six pennies.

"There's this river Splinter told me about once…" Leo explained while studying the pennies in his hand. "The Sanzu river, or The river of three crossings. Apparently, you'll need six coins in order to cross it to the afterlife, so…"

Leo crouched down and carefully placed the pennies inside the box.

"Better be safe than sorry," Leo stated, and got up from the ground. "What did you bring, Donnie? I saw you getting something from the lab in the last minute."

"Oh, me? I just… I-I brought this," Donnie said nervously, and picked up a tiny piece of metal, about the size of a flash drive. "I salvaged this component from a Kraang droid a while ago. Don't worry, it's completely harmless. But it glows very bright in the dark, so I thought… This way, it won't be so dark for him."

"I like it," Mikey said, and watched the tiny thing with big, almost enchanted eyes.

"Yeah. Good idea, Donnie," April said, and smiled at him.

Donnie scratched his neck and blushed before putting the small object in the box.

"Okay, my turn," Mikey said happily, and started digging through Leo's bag. He pulled up a plastic box and opened it to reveal one single slice of pizza.

"I'm not sure what's more disturbing," Raph said, with a raised eyebrow. "The fact that Mikey brings pizza to a funeral or that I'm actually _surprised_ that Mikey brings pizza to a funeral."

"It's a peperoni pizza with extra cheese," Mikey informed them, and held it up so that they could see for themselves. "Cats like peperoni, right?"

"… Probably?" Donnie guessed.

"I think they do," Mikey decided, and put the slice in the box next to the kitten. "There. In case he'll get hungry."

Mikey hesitated before picking up the poem from his belt, and added it to the pile of gifts in the box. Everyone then turned to Raph who stared at them in shock.

"What? No one told me that we were supposed to bring gifts," Raph said in protest.

"We _did_ tell you," Leo said sternly.

"I thought you were kidding!" Raph defended himself.

"He brought Kevin, does that count?" Donnie asked deadpan, and pointed at their other human company, who was currently snoozing on the ground with his face full of leaves.

"_No!_ And stop calling him Kevin," Leo said, and shook his head in frustration. "You know what? It's alright. Raph didn't bring anything, and that's fine. No one's surprised anyway."

"Shut up! Just… Hang on a sec," Raph said, and looked around.

Raph noticed a bush a couple of feet away. There was one, single flower growing on it. It was bright, blue and big as a fist. It was very beautiful, and a sign told visitors not to touch it. Raph went over to the bush, nipped the flower, and went back to the grave where he dropped it next to the kitten.

"That's… Actually one pretty flower," Leo stated impressed while Donnie was looking through his stolen botany book again.

"Don't tell me," Raph said, with a glare at the book. "It's poisonous. The petals cause blisters on the brain or something."

"Not that anyone knows of," Donnie answered without looking up. "… but this one's also endangered."

"You really think they'll miss one stupid flower?" Raph asked in disbelief.

"It says here that it only blossoms once every twelve years," Donnie read in the book. ", so I guess not?"

"Well, I believe that's all," Leo stated, and picked up the lid to the shoe box. "Mikey, is that okay for you? Is there anything else you'd like to say or do first before we close it?"

Mikey looked at the kitten for a second. He then got down on his knees next to the grave, and closely watched the small, furry animal in the box. He neither moved, nor said a word. His brothers and April waited patiently, no one dared to break the silence. After a couple of minutes, Mikey got up from the ground and turned to the others. To everyone's surprise, he was smiling.

"I think he looks happy," Mikey said.

* * *

**Next Time:** Getting close to the end now! And that's when things goes a bit dark… Let me just put out a warning that there will be blood, and let your imagination do the rest.

**AN:** Next chapter is actually done! I just have to read it through once more, and decide whether to add the epilogue or not. But the thing is; it shouldn't take more than a day or two TOPS. Stay tuned! Be awesome. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Okay… One, two days tops apparently means a week. But at least now we know that till next time! See? We're getting to know each other a little here. :D As mentioned, this chapter is slightly darker than its predecessors. I don't think it's dark enough to rate it as T, but keep in mind that it's dark enough to _almost_ rate as T. But always know that this is only supposed to be a little darker than the show, so don't worry. ;)

And thank you! All of you! It means so much to me that people are actually reading this story, and it really motivates me to do the best that I can. Please keep tell me what you think of it, even if there's something that you don't like. And if you see any pesky grammar-gophers, or other linguistic oddities, tell me and I'll fix them! ^-^)

* * *

"Um, guys? Not that I don't like a piggyback ride once in a while," April said while holding on to Leo's neck a little tighter when the turtle leaped off the building and landed on the next rooftop. ", but I've been training for a while now. I could probably jump off a couple of buildings all by myself if you just let me."

"Yeah… Not gonna happen," Leo stated kindly. "No offense, April. But that way, it would take forever to get you home."

"What do you mean with _forever_…?" April asked, with a narrow look.

"You're slow," Raph told her bluntly, as he ran up next to them.

"Yeah, like really, _really_ slow," Mikey concurred, and took a dive from a chimney while doing a backflip, for no other reason except to show that he could. "I mean, you're kinda good. But there's just _no way_ you'd keep up with us. You're like a… Um… I was gonna say some super slow animal, but I forgot which one. I'll think of one later."

"Like a turtle…?" April said in a low voice, while watching Mikey make another advanced flip in the air and land safely on the other side of the roof, before taking off again with a dash.

April watched Mikey run ahead and couldn't help but to smile. It was a relief to see him like this. She knew that Leo and the others had been worried about how their little brother would react when they buried the kitten. He had cared so much for it, even giving it a name. But once in the ground, he would never see it again. However, it seemed like they had all been worried for nothing.

After the burial, Leo had concluded that they still had two things left to do. First of all, they had to mark the grave. Raph had been against this idea, arguing that marking the grave was stupid and would raise questions. Leo had argued that if they didn't mark it with something, it wouldn't be a funeral as much as them just dumping a dead body. Raph had given in, and Donnie had found a smooth rock in a nearby pond which Leo, on Mikey's advice, had carved the name into. They had then put it on the grave, hoping that it would be left alone.

The last thing on the list was Kevin. The watchman hadn't been contributing much to the conversation during the funeral, leaving the rest of the group to almost forget about him. April had suggested that they should leave him in a place where he would think that he had simply dozed off, since being a night watchman in a botanic garden probably wasn't a very exciting job anyway. Raph thought that an even better approach would be to leave him a message that described in detail what they would do to him if he ever mentioned what he'd seen tonight. To emphasize the meaning of this, the message should be written with red letters on his locker door, or preferably, on his bedspread.

Donnie had read in his book about a plant that produces a very strong hallucinogenic substance which, if they left Kevin by its roots overnight, would make him see way more screwed up things than giant, talking turtles. Mikey's suggestion was based solely on the assumption that the blow from Raph would have caused Kevin severe amnesia, in which case Mikey thought that the only right thing to do was to bring him home with them and raise him as one of their own. And let him keep the name Kevin.

They decided to dump Kevin in the restroom. It was the only place that made sense, since he'd most likely wake up thinking that he had slipped and hurt his head on the tiled floor. Any memories of mutated turtles could always be blamed on a possible concussion.

Even though the decision was unanimous, Donnie couldn't help but to back up this plan with alarming statistics about bathroom related accidents and mortality rates, which for some reason was in his possession.

In the restroom, Raph had pointed out that the whole scenario would make much more sense if the floor was actually slippery. The suggestion was soon followed by a busted water pipe and a restroom floor with a water level of two inches. Donnie had expressed worry that the Kevin would get pneumonia from the cold water. Raph reasoned that at least it washed off all the dirt and mud from his face.

April started to recognize the signs and shops now, indicating that they were almost at her place. The turtles had decided to follow her home, just as a precaution, and Leo had offered to carry her. A suggestion which April had reluctantly agreed to, and which Donnie had seemed somewhat disappointed over, but he hadn't said anything.

"Well, I don't need any ninja training to walk, do I?" April asked them. "I'm almost home; just drop me off here. It's a ten minutes' walk, tops."

"I'd rather not," Donnie protested as he caught up with them. "There are all kinds of shifty people out on the streets this hour, ranging from mildly disturbing to full-blown psychos that should be locked up in a circus cage- What I'm trying to say is that you're much safer up here with us."

"Guys, you really don't have to do all this, you know," April said, with a semi smile.

"We know," Raph said honestly, not looking too enthusiastic.

"Zip it, Raph," Donnie told him. "I can't- We can't just leave her alone on the streets of New York in two at morning. She could get mugged, or attacked, or-"

"Get hit in the head by a falling brick?" Raph asked sarcastically. "Or by an air conditioner. Or a flying cow…!"

"Or a space ship!" Mikey added eagerly. "Like in Leo's old show! Except that around here, it could actually happen. Because, you know… The Kraang and all that."

"Okay. Hold on now, April," Leo instructed, and took a big leap off the building.

April instinctively tightened her grip as they soared through the air for a short time, and then started falling to the ground. Leo smoothly caught the ladder to a fire escape just in time, and then landed on April's balcony with a heavy thud.

"End station: April's apartment!" Mikey announced, in an imitation of a conductor.

"We _know_ that! Keep it down…!" Leo hissed at Mikey as April slid off his back.

"… thank you for traveling with ninja turtle airlines, don't forget your luggage, we hope you'll haveapleasantday…!" Mikey rambled in a lower voice, before quickly dodging a punch from Raph.

"Home sweet home…" April said with a glance at the brothers as she opened the window, which she had made sure to leave unlocked before she left.

"Are you sure you dare to sleep alone tonight?" Raph asked, and wrapped an arm around Mikey's throat in a choking manner. "'Cause, Donnie would probably volunteer to watch under your bed for monsters if you let him."

A bō staff smacked Raph over the head so hard that he lost his grip on Mikey, who made sure to get at least an arm's length away from his older brother. Raph glared at Donnie, who didn't seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary at all.

"… I think I'm more afraid of what my aunt might do if she finds a human sized turtle in my bedroom," April told Raph, with an awkward smile. "It's too bad that I can't invite you in, though. I got some leftover pizza in the refrigerator that-"

"Leftover pizza? Oh, _sweet_!" Mikey exclaimed, but didn't get far before Raph hit him in the head, stopping him in his tracks. Mikey rubbed the sore spot in confusion. "Ow! Why…?"

"Are you deaf or just stupid?" Raph asked him, in annoyance. "She said that her aunt's home, numbskull."

It took a moment for Mikey to process this information, and you could almost see a light bulb appear above his head when the situation finally became clear to him.

"Right…" Mikey said, in realization. "Uh, I mean… I knew that!"

Raph rolled his eyes and slapped Mikey over the head again.

"Ouch! Stop _hurting_ me all the time…!" Mikey growled, with a glare at his brother. "I'm not your personal- Your… Um..."

"Yeah? My personal, what?" Raph asked, in amusement.

"… I dunno. But you'd probably be hurting it!" Mikey retorted.

"And you don't want your aunt to meet us?" Donnie asked April dryly with one look at his two bickering brothers.

"… Maybe not right away," April said, with an apologetic smile. "She'd probably call the Channel 6 news, the fire department, _and_ the police. In that order."

"What's wrong with the grown up ones? Why don't they like us?" Mikey asked his brothers, with a puzzled look. "Can't they see how adorable we are?"

"We? Adorable?" Raph asked, in disbelief.

"Oh, right… Not Raph," Mikey added, with a grin.

Raph raised his fist yet again, but never got the chance to strike Mikey, since Leo interrupted by grabbing his arm and push him away from their little brother. It wasn't a brutal attack, but the timing was unfortunate considering that Raph was sitting on the rail of the balcony at the moment. The push made him lose his balance, and before anyone realized what was happening, Raph had fallen off the edge of the balcony. He fell down one floor before grabbing on to the fire escape in the last second. Leo ran over to the rail and looked down, only to find Raph climbing up the ladder. He did not look happy. Mikey snuck up behind Leo to peek down at Raph over his shoulder. Leo glanced at him.

"… He knows that was an accident, right?" Leo asked, with a guilty expression.

"Dude, he's sooo gonna hit you now…" Mikey told him.

"Enough with the fighting already…!" Donnie sighed, like a kindergarten teacher that wished to switch profession to one that didn't involve kids. "Why do we _always_ have to _fight_ all the time…?!"

"What? We're ninjas, it's what we do," Mikey said, with a shrug.

"Yes, yes, Mikey. But you see, there is also the ability to tell _right_ from _wrong_," Donnie explained, with a composed voice. "… _And it's n__ot that d__ifficult!"_

"Speaking of right and wrong," Leo said, with a suspicious look at Donnie. "Did anyone see Donnie return that book from the gift shop?"

"Nope," Mikey answered, and shook his head happily.

"Did anyone see him pay for it…?" Leo asked instead, still with a wary look at his taller brother.

"Hey, I'll return it!" Donnie claimed, and folded his arms. "… As soon as I've finished reading it."

"Oh, well that's ok," Raph said sarcastically, as he climbed up the ladder and jumped up on the balcony again. "Hey, look over there! It's the pizza guy! I think I'll just take those boxes. Don't worry, I'll return them once I've finished eating."

"You really wanna play the moral card here, chuckles?" Donnie asked Raph, with a narrow look. "Whose face do you think Kevin will remember when he wakes up screaming from his night terrors?"

"Stop calling him- Whatever," Leo sighed, and looked tired. "Let's just head home, guys. We got training with Master Splinter in the morning. If we leave now, we can still catch four hours of sleep before he wipes the floor with us..."

"You mean like this?" Raph asked and punched Leo hard in the guts.

"What the- "Leo gasped and wrapped his arms around his stomach. "Ow… Did you have to punch so hard?! I think I heard a rib crack…"

"You. Pushed. Me. Off. A. BALCONY!" Raph reminded him, and folded his arms with an annoyed look. "I'm being nice here!"

"No you're not…" Leo muttered, and straightened up. "Anyway, we better head home before Splinter-"

The sound of glass breaking made Leo snap his eyes open in surprise. The other turtles reacted too and immediately checked the street. The sound came from an alley down the road, but they couldn't see what was happening from this angle. There was another sound of glass breaking, which this time was followed by laughter.

"Oh great…" April sighed bitterly. "Seriously, it's 2 AM! Don't they have any reason to get up in the morning?"

"What is going on, April?" Leo asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"It's nothing. Literally," April told him, in annoyance. "It's just a bunch of punks that's been hanging around the neighborhood lately. I've seen them on my way home from school."

"Are they dangerous?" Leo asked, with a serious look.

"Have they threatened you?" Donnie demanded to know.

"No, I haven't had the pleasure of engaging them in a conversation yet," April answered, with another look at the alley. "Something tells me that we don't have that much in common… But don't worry about me. It's just a matter of time before they get locked up. They're not exactly being subtle… Though, my aunt is pretty scared of them. She won't even let me open a window if it's dark outside because of-"

"Are there four of them?" Mikey suddenly asked.

"You mean in the break-glass-club? Yeah, I think so," April answered, in surprise. "Did you just guess that, or-"

Before April could finish her sentence, Mikey jumped up above her head and swiftly climbed the wall towards the roof.

"Mikey…!" Leo called out, and quickly motioned to his brothers to follow as he jumped after him.

"Good night, April!" Donnie yelled hurriedly before leaving the balcony with the others. April waved uncertainly as she watched them disappear.

"Let's hope so…" April said warily before closing the window behind her, and locked it.

Mikey landed on a rooftop right above the alley. He was soon joined by his brothers who looked down to see what their noisy company was up to. It was four guys in their late teens, or possibly very early twenties. The style of their clothes, hair, and not to mention tattoos spoke the universal code of 'lowlife'. They were currently in the middle of some kind of drinking game. The rules seemed to simply be that once you had finished a bottle of beer, or other choice of beverage, you had to dispose of it in the funniest way you could think of. A guy with a shaved head gulped down the last drop of his bottle and then looked around when a cab suddenly stopped at the sidewalk outside the alley. The skinhead smiled and launched the bottle towards the cab. An older man just got out of the car when the bottle shattered to the ground right at his feet. The older man looked up in shock and quickly got inside the cab again, which soon drove off way past the speed limit. The gang started laughing manically, and a guy with long, blond hair laughed so hard that he fell off the box he'd been sitting on, and landed on the filthy ground.

"So this is where all the gifted people hang, huh?" Raph stated sarcastically. "It's probably just a matter of time before Shredder hires these geniuses."

"Alright, now we've seen them," Leo said, not finding the scene below them nearly as interesting as his brother. "Let's go home."

"Shouldn't we do something?" Donnie asked, with doubtful look at the brainiacs. The blond one giggled like an idiot as he picked out glass shards from his left palm.

"They are breaking _glass_," Leo stated, in annoyance. "It's stupid, but it's hardly worth getting into a fight over."

"I wouldn't call it a fight," Raph pointed out, as a guy with black messy hair picked up another empty bottle and hurled it into the wall right next to his blond buddy's head. The act earned him lots of laughter from the other two, while the blond guy glared at him disapprovingly.

"We're going _home_," Leo said sternly. "We're ninjas; we have to pick our battles carefully. How are we supposed to keep a low profile if we beat up every lowlife that makes a mess? And April's right. These guys will get themselves locked up before they even know it."

"It might even be quicker than that, I don't think they paid for those bottles," Donnie pointed out, and watched the skinhead throw a bottle out in the street. It shattered into pieces, spilling beer all over the ground. Apparently, the bottle hadn't even been empty.

"So, are you guys coming or what?" Leo asked and turned his back to the punks. "We got training in a few hours. You really wanna waste your energy on this?"

Raph thought about this for a second, but then shrugged. He turned his back to the alley together with Donnie, but Mikey didn't move from the spot.

"You too, Mikey," Leo told him, and motioned to his little brother to join them. "Let's get out of here before those morons do something that'll get the police's attention… Come on, move your butt."

Mikey didn't answer, or even look up at Leo's words. He was crouching next to the edge of the roof, blankly watching the punks in the alley. Another bottle was thrown in the ground and shattered in pieces. Leo frowned at the younger turtle and shared a confused look with Raph. But Donnie didn't frown. He saw what was happening, and his eyes widened in horror when the situation became clear to him. The moment Mikey had seen those guys, the cheerful, joking, Michelangelo had immediately gone into hiding. It was just like pressing an off switch. This was what was left. The other Mikey. The one they had hoped they would never see again.

Donnie darted over to Mikey's side and carefully took his arm, ushering his brother to come with him. He knew that it was already too late, but there might still be time to do some damage control.

"Um, Mikey…?" Donnie said, trying his best to sound like normal. "Here, come with me... Let's not stay here, okay? Come on, up we go..."

Donnie tried to pull his little brother with him, but Mikey refused to move. He just kept staring at the scene in front of him, like a hollow copy of himself, unable to leave.

"Mikey, here. Look at me," Donnie told him firmly, and snapped a finger in front of him. "No, no, no. Don't look at them, stop looking at them. Look at _m__e_. Alright? Can you do that for me? Mikey, I'm right here. Please, don't do this…"

Mikey didn't even glance at him. His face was almost a gray shade of green, and his eyes unnaturally empty. Donnie gave his brothers a desperate look. Leo watched them both in concern, not sure what to say or do. Raph shook his head tiredly and promptly walked over to Mikey. He then wrapped his arms around the smaller turtle's body and lifted him up in the air. This made Mikey snap out of his daze, only to start kicking and squirming to free himself. But Raph didn't let go and easily carried Mikey over to the other end of the roof. He didn't stop until the alley was out of sight. He then loosened his grip and put Mikey down. The freckled turtle didn't even look at him, and just stared down at the ground.

"I take it that this isn't the first time you see those guys," Leo asked, but it wasn't really a question since he already knew the answer.

Mikey nodded, but his eyes were more focused on his toes than on any of his brothers. Donnie walked up to him and put both his hands on Mikey's shoulders.

"Mikey, listen to me," Donnie told him, with a serious look. "Forget about them. Okay? Don't even think about them, they're worth nothing. Do you hear me? _Not__hing_. You can't let them get to you. Do you understand?"

Mikey slowly looked up with an angry look, and Donnie could feel that Mikey's whole body was shaking.

"… Do you have any idea of what they did?" Mikey asked Donnie, with a glare.

"Yes, I do," Donnie answered truthfully. "Trust me, I know. I've seen it… But we can't do anything about it right now. There are people and cars passing by, and we can't stay her all night. Please, Mikey. You have to let this go. Promise me that."

Mikey's expression changed into a gloomy one, and he looked down again. He was still trembling, like if he was cold. Donnie patted him on the shoulder and carefully nudged him in a direction.

"Come. Let's go home," Donnie told him. "We did what we came for, and that's the only thing that matters. We buried Klunk, and the funeral went great. Everyone did really well. Don't let them destroy that too."

Mikey nodded feebly and then followed Donnie. The two turtles jumped to the next building, and Leo was just about to leave too, but then noticed that Raph had gone back to the other edge of the roof. Leo hesitated and then walked over to him. The red clad turtle was observing the four punks with a look that Leo couldn't read. He watched Raph's right hand stroke his sai in an almost caring way, but without gripping it. Leo put a hand firmly on his brother's shoulder.

"No," Leo stated, with a stern look.

Raph gave Leo a subtle glare, and then looked away.

"Wanna know what I'm thinking?" Raph asked Leo, without taking his toxic green eyes away from the gang below them.

"Probably not," Leo said, with wary look at his brother.

"Sometimes, it really sucks to be the good guys," Raph stated, with a resentful look.

Leo didn't answer. He then noticed how Raph was slowly reaching for his sai again.

"I'm thinking…" Raph continued, and wrapped his fingers around the handle and squeezed it tightly. "… That sometimes, it should really suck to be a cat murderer."

Leo watched Raph in silence, and then looked down at the four guys in the alley. His sea blue eyes were cold as ice shards.

"Raph..." Leo suddenly said.

Raph looked up at Leo in surprise, and the leader in blue turned to him with a grim look.

"Let's beat up some cat murderers," Leo stated.

Raph stared at his brother for a second before giving him a vicious grin. He drew his sai with the look of a predator who smelled blood, but Leo stopped him.

"We can't do it now, though," Leo explained firmly, and looked over his shoulder. "Donnie and Mikey are waiting for us."

Raph hesitated and thought about this for a moment.

"Go home and wait till they're asleep?" Raph suggested.

Leo gave him an approving smile.

"See you at the turnstiles."

* * *

The thugs in the alley were drinking to their hearts' content. The skinhead petted a sports bag next to him, which seemed to possess an infinite amount of beer, and various bottles containing alcoholic liquids. He picked up a bottle of vodka and studied it with interest. He was just about to unscrew the top, when the guy with dark, messy hair snatched the bottle and took a big swallow of its contents. He immediately started to cough and spilled vodka all over his face and t-shirt, making the blond guy roar with laughter and the skinhead to snatch the bottle back in annoyance.

They were suddenly interrupted by the fourth member of their ensemble, a young man with blue dyed hair, who had shaved half of his head only to replace the hair with a tattoo. The tattoo was designed to make it look like something had taken a bite out of his head, revealing the brain and skull underneath the skin. The blue haired zombie-victim showed up in the alley, proudly pushing a baby carriage.

"Whoa, Ricky. Where did you get that?" The skinhead asked mockingly, with one look at the carriage. "You got one of those things already? I didn't even know you had a girlfriend."

"He doesn't," The blond guy informed them indifferently.

"Who says he needed a girlfriend? All you need is a girl," The messy haired guy stated in amusement, and started laughing hysterically.

"Shut up, Nate," The tattooed guy, also known as Ricky, said and then motioned to the skinhead to hand him a bottle from the sports bag. "The code lock is broken on that apartment building down the street."

"How did you know it was broken?" Blondie asked, with a frown.

"Because I hit it with this," Ricky smiled, and picked up an iron pipe which he apparently had kept in the baby carriage as if it was his firstborn. "Now you can just walk in and take whatever the idiots have left in the stairway. There was a bike there too."

"But you grabbed a stroller?" Baldy asked in disbelief, and threw him a bottle of beer.

"You'll see why," Ricky said, and took one look at the beer, but then shook his head and tossed it back with a smirk. "I need the vodka."

Baldy started laughing and gave him the vodka bottle instead. Blondie and Nate watched in confusion as Ricky started pouring the liquid all over the baby carriage.

"Hand me a lighter," Ricky said, and looked at his buddies in anticipation.

Blondie smiled as he picked up a green one from his pocket and gave it to Ricky. Ricky chuckled and watched the lighter with a gleeful expression as he lit it.

The moment he had ignited the flame, something small hit the lighter in extreme speed, knocking it out of his hand. Ricky yelped in surprise and then winced in pain. His thumb had suddenly a deep cut, and was bleeding heavily. When he looked behind him, the lighter had been nailed to the brick wall by a throwing star.

Ricky stared at it and then immediately picked up his iron pipe again. Baldy looked around the alley warily. There were dumpsters and boxes all round them, so it was possible for someone to hide in there. But the question was how someone had gotten there in the first place. There was only one way into the alley, and that was from the street. No one could possibly have snuck past them. Unless this person had come from the roof, but that idea was as farfetched as it was impossible.

Baldy picked up an empty bottle by the neck and smashed it against the wall, leaving him a sharp tool and an effective weapon.

"Come out, come out…" Baldy cooed, with a smile. "We'll share the booze if you just show us your face. I promise. Don't be shy…"

"… How did he do that?" Blondie whispered, with a narrow look at the lighter on the wall.

"Pure luck, you idiot," Ricky growled, and slammed the iron pipe into a dumpster with a bang. "… And he's probably laughing his little head off right now!"

Blondie noticed something in the end of the alley and quickly nudged Ricky's shoulder. Ricky turned around in annoyance, but then quickly took a step back in surprise. Where there hadn't been as much as a cockroach one minute ago, were suddenly two shadowy figures. And they were both watching the four troublemakers intently. One of them was crouching on top of a dumpster, while the second one was leaning against it. It was too dark to see anything but their silhouettes, and the white slits of their gleaming eyes.

"Wow…!" Baldy laughed while still holding the broken flask in his hand, clearly with the intent to use it. "Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time tonight, am I right guys?"

Nate had seemed a bit nervous at first, but then started laughing again. He picked up the now empty vodka bottle, and without warning launched it with all his might at their new company. Leo watched the bottle coming right at him, and took one step forward. He reached out a hand and caught the bottle in midair, before calmly putting it down on the ground next to the dumpster. Nate immediately stopped laughing with an uneasy look. Leo was fully visible now, his green skin looking almost teal in the moonlight. Raph suddenly jumped down from the dumpster and joined up with Leo, his eyes pinned on the four guys in front of them.

Baldy stared at them for a second, and then started laughing hysterically. Ricky soon followed his example, and so did the others, though not quite as enthusiastically.

"Alright, seriously though," Baldy said, and pretended to wipe away a tear. "That's some awesome costumes, kids. Where can I buy one?"

Leo and Raph didn't say a word, and just kept observing the gang. None of them even made an attempt to draw their weapons.

"Come on, I gave you a compliment," Baldy smiled. "What? Can't you talk?"

Raph glanced at Leo who answered him by ever so slightly shaking his head, hardly enough for anyone to notice.

"I mean it, I love your outfits," Baldy continued. "Especially those masks. Are they made of rubber or something? Can I borrow one? Here, let me try it on."

This time the punks started roaring with laughter as Baldy calmly approached the turtles. One hand outstretched in a peaceful gesture, and the other one still holding on to the sharp tool, ready to strike. Raph suddenly drew a hidden knife, making the skinhead stop in his tracks and tighten his grip around the bottleneck. But Raph didn't attack, or even move from Leo's side. Instead, he put the tip of the small blade against the left side of his face. He then started to move the sharp tool across his cheek, slowly slicing the skin open. The cut was instantly followed by a trail of blood, with crimson drops rolling down his chin. Dripping on the ground.

"Not a mask," Raph stated, and tossed the knife aside.

Baldy stared at him. An involuntary chill ran down his spine as Raph looked directly at the skinhead, not taking his eyes off him. A distinct, cruel vibe was coming from the red clad turtle, who didn't even try to hide his desire to hurt the man in front of him.

The tension between the two groups was so intense that it became too much for Nate, who suddenly shoved his blond friend aside and bolted, heading for the street.

"Seems like at least one of them has some brain cells left," Leo told his brother, with an amused smile. "What do you say, Raph? Do we really need four? We could always split the third one if you want."

Raph answered by drawing his Sai and make a dash for the runner. He leaped over the gang, and landed right in front of the fleeing man, cutting him off from the only way out of the alley. Nate immediately stopped, almost slipping on the ground in the process. One step more and Raph's outstretched Sai would have pierced his throat.

"…Look, I-I know what this is about," Nate explained, and raised his hands in a nonthreatening gesture "We're on your turf, right? That's why you're doing this. Look, we didn't know these were your streets. One word and we're leaving, okay? We're leaving-"

"No you're not," Leo stated calmly, and drew his katanas.

"What the… What kind of freaks are you?!" Ricky yelled furiously, and stared at Leo and the weapons in his hands.

"Very unhappy ones," Leo explained, and pointed one of his swords directly at them. "And the term is 'mutants'. Got it?"

The skinhead stumbled backwards in surprise at the sight of the katana, and instinctively threw his broken bottle at Leo without thinking. The turtle slashed it into pieces that scattered all over the ground.

"Seriously? Again with the bottles?" Leo asked, in annoyance. "What are you? Babies?"

"Do you guys really wanna cover this place in even more glass?" Raph asked, with a mocking grin. "'Cause, that's not gonna end well for you at all. Considering that you'll soon end up face down in it…"

"What do you want?!" Ricky demanded to know, while still holding on to his iron pipe. "You want a fight? Is that what you want? I'll give you a fight!"

"I was hoping that you'd say that," Raph smiled viciously, and cracked his neck.

"Whoa, whoa! What's this really about?" Blondie wanted to know. "Come on, we haven't done you nothing! What's your problem?"

"Our problem is that we don't like you very much," Leo explained. "I could give you a reason, but I think you can figure out about a dozen all by yourself."

"Actually, if you can think of one reason why you guys _shouldn't_ get your butts kicked, then we might actually let you go," Raph added. "But probably not."

"Hey! If you touch me, I'll kill you! You hear that?" Ricky yelled, and hit the wall next to him with the pipe to prove his point. "You might be monsters, but you don't scare me!"

"Really? _We_ are the monsters?" Leo asked in disbelief, with narrow eyes. "Look who's talking. Killed any litters of kittens lately, big guy?"

The four punks went deathly quiet. Nate and Blondie shared an uneasy look while the skinhead glanced at Ricky uncertainly. But Ricky didn't move a muscle, and just kept staring at Leo with furious eyes.

"No, we haven't," Ricky said, with a scornful voice.

"Now that's just a big, fat lie…" Raph said, in a low threatening voice. His eyes were glowing with spite.

"Alright, so what if we did?" Baldy suddenly said in annoyance. "They weren't yours, they didn't belong to anyone. So what do you want from us?"

"I can't speak for him," Raph answered with a nod to Leo, and then gave Baldy a twisted look. ", but I know what_ I_ want…"

"Come on… Are you're seriously gonna kill us for killing off some cats?" Baldy asked, in disbelief.

"I'm not gonna kill ya," Raph said with a shrug, but then riveted his eyes on the man in front of him, with the look of someone who wants to rip something to pieces. "I just want to hurt you until you scream. A lot. And then, I'm going to hurt you some more. Does that sound better?"

"Here's the thing, fellas," Leo said, while slowly circling the group. The tip of his sword was touching the ground, and made a mark as he walked. "Don't be cruel to animals…"

"… Cause animals can be cruel too," Raph finished, with a leer.

He took a step closer to Baldy, who slowly backed away from him with a wary look. Before he realized it, he had had backed up against the wall. Raph didn't stop until he was right in front of him. The turtle studied the young man before him, like someone studying an odd piece of trash that's not supposed to be there. Raph used his Sai to tap him on his hairless head, making the skinhead flinch. Raph smiled, but then suddenly raised his Sai above him. Baldy stared at the gleaming weapon in panic as it came down right at his face. The tip brushed against his cheek, and then pierced the wall right next to his head. Raph watched him with a curious expression.

"Why aren't you laughing?" Raph asked. "I thought this was what you guys did for fun?"

Baldy stared at Raph as if he was dealing with a mad man, but his expression changed into a surprised one as Raph pulled his Sai free, and put it back in his belt. Leo had also put away his swords, and the four young men looked at them in confusion.

"What do you say, Raph?" Leo asked his brother. "Do we actually need weapons to beat the snot out of these guys?"

"Nah. Sounds a bit overkill, don't you think?" Raph replied, with a pleased look.

"Literally," Leo agreed, with a smile. "It wouldn't be fair."

"Yeah, if these guys can finish off a couple of cats with their bare hands," Raph said, and clenched his fists. ", then I think we can do the same to them…"

"My thought exactly," Leo said, and took on a fighting pose.

Ricky's mouth suddenly turned into a smile, and he spun his iron pipe in delight.

"You heard them, guys," Ricky told them. "These creatures think that they can take us on. I think they're too cocky for their own good. Let's show them."

Baldy looked much happier now, and picked up a piece of wood from the ground. There were several nails sticking out of it, and he held it like a baseball bat. Blondie didn't look entirely convinced about this whole thing, but chose a bottle from the bag and smashed it to the wall, just like Baldy had done earlier. Nate didn't pick a weapon, and looked at them all as if they were crazy.

"Are you serious? They are mutants!" Nate said in horror. "Let's get out of here-"

"Shut up, Nate!" Baldy yelled at him, with a stern look.

"They are _unarmed_ mutants," Ricky clarified, with a smile. "And we outnumber them. They are the ones who will regret this, trust me."

Nate didn't seem to have considered these facts before, but now when someone had pointed them out to him, an ugly grin started to spread across his face. He picked up a knife from his pocket with a happy look, ready to stab it into something green.

Raph glanced at Leo in something that could almost be interpreted as joy, before they both dashed towards the gang. Baldy immediately swung the piece of wood at Raph, who ducked underneath it and kicked him hard in the stomach. Baldy gasped for air and stumbled backwards, but Raph didn't wait for him to recover, and proceeded by punching him right in the face. The attack sent Baldy flying backwards straight into a dumpster. The crash was deafening. Baldy was lying on his stomach, coughing from the impact. Raph was there in an instant and put one foot on his back, forcing his body down on the ground. The bald guy's eyes widened in fear as Raph took both of his arms, and slowly started pulling them backwards.

Raph was interrupted by Nate, who came running at him with his knife drawn. He sliced at Raph, who quickly jumped out of the way. Nate attacked him again, aiming for Raph's throat. Raph answered by grabbing Nate's attacking arm with both his hands, and crush it against his knee. Nate screamed and curled up into a ball on the ground. His arm was clearly broken in at least one place. The skinhead had gotten up on his feet, and picked up an empty bottle. He then turned to Raph and attacked him from behind, smashing the bottle against his back. The glass shattered against Raph's shell, and the turtle gave him a weird look.

"You noticed at some point that we're turtles, right?" Raph asked.

Baldy looked confused for a moment, still holding the two inches long bottleneck in his hand. He quickly tossed it at Raph, who simply swatted it away. The skinhead looked around for something else he could use as a weapon, but Raph had lost his patience a long time ago. The turtle jumped towards the guy, and landed a kick on his head. The shaved head hit the ground hard, and a trail of blood was running down his skull. This time Baldy didn't try to get up.

Leo was fighting Ricky. Or rather, Ricky was fighting furiously with all he had, while Leo seemed to be on a play date. He dodged every single attack from the iron pipe, but made no attempt to attack his attacker. And Leo seemed to be completely content with this arrangement. Blondie realized that his friend wasn't doing any progress, and charged at Leo with his sharp weapon. Leo barely looked up and simply swiped Blondie's legs, making him end up on his back. This interruption seemed to have made Leo grow tired of the game, and as the iron pipe came at him once again, he grabbed it with his right hand. Ricky looked at him in surprise, before Leo twisted the iron pipe out of his grip and tossed it aside. Without a weapon, Ricky made an attempt to kick Leo in the guts, but the turtle blocked the attack and instead punched him in the ribs. There was a cracking sound and Ricky fell backwards to the ground, wincing in pain. Blondie tried once again to cut Leo with the broken bottle, but Leo spun around and kicked him away. Blondie landed heavily among a bunch of moldy moving boxes, groaning in agony. Ricky glared at the turtle, but then seemed to come to think of something.

"Hey! Greeny!" Ricky yelled at Leo. "Look over here!"

Leo automatically turned to Ricky, who immediately grabbed a handful of glass shards from the ground, and threw them in Leo's face. Leo flinched and covered his eyes, but it was too late. He could feel an agonizing pain from where the tiny splinters had entered. Ricky picked up his beloved iron pipe again, and snickered at his blind opponent.

"Not so easy now, is it? Don't worry; I'll end it for you…" Ricky said with a laugh, and swung the pipe at Leo's head.

Leo skillfully ducked and jumped out of Ricky's reach, still with one hand covering his eyes. Ricky looked at him in surprise, but was then violently tackled to the ground by a furious force known as Raphael. Ricky landed several feet away from Leo on his back, and looked up groggily. Raph was standing over him, and his whole being was fuming with a barely controllable rage.

"… You just can't stop hurting my brothers, can you?" Raph asked, with a snarl.

It wasn't really a question since Raph didn't wait for an answer. His eyes were only white slits compared to before, as he without warning stomped on Ricky's left kneecap. The crunching sound from the bone was drowned in a scream. Ricky's voice was soon muffled by Raph, who grabbed his neck and pulled him up from the ground only to smash him into the wall. Raph watched Ricky with a look of deepest detest. His intentions were as clear as a wolf with a rabbit in his fangs.

"Raph…!"

Raph turned to Leo, who was on his feet and seemed to try to blink away something from his eye. He squinted at Raph, but then smiled and gave him a thumbs up to show that he was okay. Raph brightened up, and then smiled at Ricky before throwing him to the ground. The four troublemakers were all spread out in the alley in various positions, depending on their injuries. Raph and Leo watched them for a minute and then looked at each other.

"When you think about it..." Raph said, and picked up his Sai in a playful way. "Four, big, strong guys against a couple of cats isn't that fair to begin with. Is it, Leo?"

Leo answered by unsheathing his katanas, and Raph picked up his other Sai. The thugs looked up at them, their eyes as big as ping pong balls.

"… So my conscience is actually completely fine with this," Raph told them with a merciless grin.

* * *

**Next Time:** Last chapter, boys and girls! It was supposed to be an epilogue, but it got a little bigger than that, so let's just call it a chapter. We'll round up all the events, and end with some extra focus on Raph and Mikey.

I really hope you'll like it, and that you've enjoyed the story so far. :)


	6. Chapter 6 (final)

**Author's Note:** Welcome to the last chapter of Nobody's Fault. I won't ramble that much this time, so I'll just shut up and let you read it. ^-^

And as always, if you see any grammar-gnomes in the text, or any other linguistic oddity, tell me so that I can fix it. ;)

Have a great read!

* * *

Two shadows leaped from the tall building and swiftly made their way down to the street below. The sun was starting to rise over the city, and the two turtles quickly took cover in the only darkness they could find in the nearest alley. Leo spotted a manhole cover, and motioned to Raph to follow him. Leo was just about to open it, when he noticed Raph's face in the morning light.

"You have a little…" Leo started uncomfortably, and made a subtle gesture with his katana to his cheek.

Raph blinked at him uncertainly, but then wiped his hand across his face. He looked down at his fingers, only to discover that they were stained with blood.

"…Huh," Raph said, with an intrigued look at his hand.

"That's one way of putting it," Leo confirmed, and studied Raph's self-inflicted face injury with an odd look. "You know… That was pretty twisted. Even for you."

"Thanks," Raph grinned. His smile made the blood trail curve around his mouth. "Wish that Mikey and Don could have seen it."

"Mikey and Donnie are gonna ask where you got it from," Leo said with an awkward stare at his brother.

"It's a cut!" Raph argued.

"It's all over your face!" Leo retorted.

"And you got glass all over yours!" Raph pointed out. "You don't think they'll notice that?"

Leo watched Raph quietly. He remembered when the glass shards had hit his eyes, though that wasn't what bothered him the most. Leo's vision had been burry at the time, but he had seen what was going on. There had been something new in Raph's expression during that fight. Something that Leo didn't recognize. Raph was always brutal when he fought, always bordering to ruthlessness. But what Leo had seen wasn't a ruthless Raph. It was a Raph who had been seconds away from actually killing someone.

"We went too far, Raph," Leo told him.

"What are you talking about?" Raph asked, with a frown. "We didn't even use our weapons!"

"We hardly needed to, I think they got the message," Leo said, with a serious look. "And in retrospect, I doubt we had to scare them half to death like we did in the end."

"I know. But it was fun, right?" Raph said, with a grin.

Leo didn't answer, and Raph looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, come on!" Raph said in annoyance. "We got to knock the booze out of those guys, and they deserved every single bruise! Don't tell me that wasn't satisfying?"

"… You think that was satisfying?" Leo asked him, with a strange look.

"Yeah," Raph answered, with an honest shrug. "What? You didn't think so?"

"Maybe a little. At first," Leo admitted, and looked down at the ground. "But right now, I just feel like I've eaten something bad. Like Mikey's algae soup. Or Mikey's worm stew. Or… Actually, any food made by Mikey. He's a really terrible cook."

"Whatever you say," Raph told him indifferently. "Just don't puke on me."

Leo studied Raph for a moment. There was absolutely nothing in his manner that indicated that he felt even remotely bad over what they had done. They had beaten these guys mercilessly, they had broken their bones, and now Leo knew for certain that there was no telling where Raph would have stopped if he had gone alone.

"Seriously, do you ever feel like there's something wrong with you?" Leo asked, honestly curious.

"No," Raph answered truthfully. "Usually, I feel like I'm the only one of us who's normal."

"Go figure…" Leo said, with a crooked smile.

"Leo. It was worth it," Raph told him, with a sincere look. "No one should ever get away with what those guys did. If someone had set them straight from the beginning, they would never have killed those cats. And Mikey would never have had to see that!"

"I hope that he's going to be okay after this," Leo said in a low voice. "Seeing those guys again didn't exactly make things better."

"Well, he won't see them anytime soon," Raph pointed out, with a vicious smirk.

This made Leo glance at Raph with a serious look, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he moved the manhole cover to the side, revealing their way home.

"Raph, listen to me," Leo told him. "We can't tell anyone about this."

"What? Why the heck not?" Raph asked, and glared at Leo.

"For obvious reasons," Leo explained. "First of all; Splinter would be furious. We crossed a line tonight. I can't imagine what he'd say or do, but I'd rather not find out."

"Okay, I get not telling Splinter," Raph admitted in annoyance. "But what about Donnie and Mikey? Why shouldn't we tell them that we punched the giggles out of those idiots?"

"Donnie would _not_ approve of what we did tonight," Leo told him sternly. "I mean… From you, he'd more or less expect it. He kinda looks at you as if you're some sort of ticking bomb that he doesn't know how to disarm. But he expects _me_ to make sure that we stay on the right track. I don't want him to start looking at me like that too. And Mikey-"

"-Couldn't keep a secret to save the last pizza on Earth," Raph finished, and folded his arms uninterestedly. "Alright, I get it."

The two turtles looked at each other in silence for a moment. Raph was the first one to look away, and stared at the ground instead.

"Feels kinda like a messed up joke sometimes that we're brothers," Raph said.

"Tell me about it…" Leo said, with a rueful smile. "But to be honest, I don't mind having you as one, though."

Raph thought about this for a moment before looking directly at Leo.

"I don't really mind you either," Raph admitted, and returned the smile. "Though, I'd rather have a brother who doesn't have glass in his eyes."

"And your cheek are going to need stitches," Leo replied mockingly, and jumped down into the sewer. He looked up and expected Raph to come after him, but his brother didn't follow. Leo waited for him impatiently.

"Are you coming?" Leo asked, and folded his arms. "You do realize that we got training in less than two hours, right?"

"Yeah, you go ahead," Raph told Leo. "I'll be right behind you."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked in surprise. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna fetch my sai," Raph said deadpan. "I forgot it in the alley."

Leo looked at Raph in confusion, but then his eyes slowly widened in realization. He stared at his brother as if he couldn't believe what he just had heard.

"No," Leo said, with a wary look. "You didn't forget it. You left it there on purpose to have a reason to go back. Why would you do that?"

"I'm just gonna get my sai," Raph repeated without looking at Leo. "Don't wait up for me. I'll be back in an hour."

"Raph, don't be stupid," Leo said warningly.

"Wouldn't the stupid thing be to show up at training with one sai short?" Raph asked, and glanced at Leo knowingly. "Tell me again… Did you, or did you _not_ want Splinter to know about this little adventure of ours?"

Leo didn't say anything, but eventually sighed bitterly.

"Will you at least tell me what you're gonna do?" Leo asked, almost pleadingly.

"I think you'll sleep better if I don't," Raph said with an almost kind smile, and then pushed the cover over the hole.

* * *

The freckled turtle snored softly and pulled the blanket closer to his body. His mouth was wide opened and a string of saliva was running down his jaw, threatening to hit the pillow. Mikey smacked his lips, like if he'd just eaten something in a dream, and shifted position again. His arms and legs were all over the bed, not unlike a broken toy.

"… knock it off, it's mine…" Mikey mumbled, and turned over in his sleep. "… get your own jelly beans… stupid tooth fairy…"

A hand suddenly appeared and poked Mikey firmly on the shoulder. The young turtle drowsily swatted the hand away, and returned to sleep. The hand stubbornly poked Mikey on the shoulder again, harder this time. Mikey subconsciously kicked the hand, but managed to hit the owner right in the chest instead. The hand's owner instantly lost his patience, and snatched away Mikey's blanket. The young turtle looked up with a confused look, only to find Raph sitting on his bed.

"Raph….?" Mikey asked with a yawn, and rubbed his eye tiredly. "What do you want? I was dreaming about beans… Or sheep… Or, sheepdogs… fluffy hats…"

Mikey was just about to return to his world of beans and sheep. Raph rolled his eyes, and then hit him over the head to wake him up.

"If you keep dozing off like that, you're gonna get a headache," Raph warned his little brother. "I wanna talk to you."

"Dude, you gotta learn how to talk with your words…" Mikey said sleepily and looked at Raph, but then stared at his brother in surprise. "Um… What happened to your face?"

Raph's left cheek was still displaying an almost three inches wide cut. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but Raph didn't seem to have made any effort to clean the wound, and thus half of his face was still covered in dried blood.

"It's nothing," Raph answered quickly, and folded his arms in annoyance.

"You sure about that, bro…?" Mikey asked, with a skeptic look.

"Hey, my face is fine!" Raph claimed. "Don't even get me started on yours."

"It looks like you got an extra mouth on your cheek," Mikey continued, and watched the wound in a mix of fascination and suspicion. "… And the extra mouth had a raw steak for dinner."

"Stop dreaming and start listening, okay?" Raph simply said. "I told you that I wanted to talk."

Raph's words were followed by an awkward silence, where Raph tried to come up with what to say, and Mikey tried to not nod off.

"Can I go back to sleep while you figure out what to say…?" Mikey asked curiously.

"Shut up and let me think…!" Raph replied agitated. "I'm not- I'm not that good at this…"

"Right…" Mikey yawned.

Raph scratched his neck uncomfortably, and Mikey watched him with eyes that constantly were on the brink of closing.

"So…" Raph started, and looked around in Mikey's room. "Donnie fixed the door, huh?"

"Yup," Mikey confirmed, and looked at the entrance. "It got hinges now."

"I like a door with hinges," Raph admitted.

Raph glanced at his little brother, who was currently sitting up in the bed and struggled to stay awake. Raph looked down with an uneasy look. One part of him wished that he could just get up and leave. Let his brother sleep. He looked exhausted… But Raph knew that this couldn't wait. He had to get this over with, no matter how much he hated to 'talk'. He had decided to do this. And Raph hated quitters…

"How are you holding up, buddy?" Raph eventually asked.

"I'm not," Mikey yawned, and fell back towards the pillow. "… I wanna lie down."

Raph sighed, and simply pulled Mikey up by the shell. Mikey gave him with a fuzzy look.

"Oh, sorry… You weren't done?" Mikey asked tiredly.

"Should I get a staple gun or something?" Raph suggested.

"I'm awake," Mikey stated, suddenly much more alert.

"Look," Raph continued seriously. "Donnie and Leo… They are really worried about you."

"Why would they be worried…?" Mikey asked, and scratched his head.

"Dunno. No, wait," Raph said sarcastically. "Maybe 'cause you completely froze up like a green popsicle when we went to drop off April."

"Right, right… That," Mikey said, and pondered over something. "… Are green popsicles apple, or are they more of a cactus flavor? Wait, do you think there are algae ones?"

"Why am I doing this to myself…?" Raph muttered, and buried his face in his hands.

"I have _no_ idea, bro," Mikey said, and gave Raph a comforting pat on the back.

"Okay, you know what? Forget everything I said," Raph told him.

"Way ahead of you," Mikey informed him proudly.

"Just tell me one thing," Raph said, and turned to Mikey with a serious look. "You're gonna be okay, right? No more moping, starving, hiding in your room-"

"Dude, chillax," Mikey explained with a smile, and nodded to the door. "New door, new Michelangelo."

"Technically, that's the same old door as before," Raph pointed out. "And new Mikey sucked, which is why we went through all this trouble to get the old one back."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Mikey said with a grin, but then hesitated and looked at Raph warily. "Wait a sec… Why would you care about old Mikey?"

"What kind of question is that?" Raph asked, in annoyance. "We're brothers! Why wouldn't I care?"

"'Cause you don't," Mikey stated deadpan.

"Okay. So sometimes, I care a little less," Raph admitted, with a shrug. "It doesn't mean that I don't. You know that I got your back."

Mikey didn't answer and tilted his head, like a pigeon trying to figure out whether something was food or trash.

"So," Raph began uncertainly. "you're not still upset over those bad guys, are you?"

"Nah," Mikey answered, and shook his head, but then hesitated. "… Or, I dunno. Wait, what bad guys are we talking about? It's kinda hard keeping up, since… Well, we got a lot of 'em now."

"I'm talking about the fantastic four on April's street," Raph clarified.

Saying this out loud made Raph realize that they had barely been 200 feet away from April's apartment during the fight, and that there was a real risk that she could have heard the commotion from her window. Raph hoped that both April and her aunt was heavy sleepers…

"Oh. Them," Mikey answered bitterly, and looked away without elaborating.

"I know that you don't care about my opinion," Raph continued, and looked away indifferently. "but for what it's worth; I think Donnie's right. You shouldn't think about them anymore. I'm telling you, those beer bottles weren't the only things that were empty... These guys were complete morons."

"Yeah…" Mikey said, with a gloomy look. "But it doesn't change what they did…"

"Any idiot can kill a cat," Raph said harshly. "Don't give them any credit for that."

Raph glanced at Mikey, whose eyes were fixed upon a crack on the wall behind Raph's back.

"And you don't have to worry about them anymore," Raph told him casually. "They are never going to do something like that again."

"You can't know that," Mikey stated, in a hollow voice.

"I can _promise_ you that," Raph said, with confidence. "Trust me."

This made Mikey look up at his brother. He observed Raph with a raised eyebrow, and then noticed his brother's hands.

"…Did you know that your hands are bleeding?" Mikey asked warily.

Mikey stared at Raph's knuckles, which were both covered in tiny cuts. Raph, on the other hand, didn't as much as look at them. Mikey glanced at his brother.

"What did you-"

"I already told you," Raph interrupted, and looked at Mikey with a hint of a smile. "I got your back, little brother."

The younger turtle studied the older one, like someone who observes a gift box with an electrical cord attached to it. Mikey then noticed something at Raph's feet. It was a white and blue bag.

"What's that?" Mikey asked, with interest.

"Oh, this?" Raph said, and picked it up. "It's a sports bag."

"Where did you get it?" Mikey asked curiously.

"A friend." Raph shrugged.

The freckled turtle leaned closer to the bag and sniffed it.

"It smells funny," Mikey stated, but then turned to Raph in excitement. "Can I have it?"

"Sure, why not," Raph said indifferently. "Maybe you can fit some of your things in it… Though, you might wanna look inside it first before stuffing it with junk."

Mikey looked at Raph with gleeful eyes and scooted closer to the bag. He unzipped it and eagerly looked inside. The young turtle's expression changed in an instant. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped, making Raph smile at him. Mikey stared at the grey kitten in the bag, and the kitten stared back at him. It mewed disapprovingly, evidently not enjoying its current accommodation.

"… No way," Mikey said in a low voice, and couldn't stop looking at the little creature.

He playfully gave the kitten a finger, and the kitten immediately started batting it with its paw. All four paws were white as snow.

"Dude, look…! This one got socks!" Mikey told Raph, and pointed.

"This one got a pulse, but sure. Whatever you prefer," Raph said, with another shrug.

Mikey didn't pay any attention to Raph's comment as he was too busy playing with the kitten.

"This is so weird… He looks just like him," Mikey said in awe.

"That's because he's Klunk's brother," Raph told him. "I found him in the same alley."

"But I thought they killed all of them," Mikey said and looked up at Raph in surprise. "How come he got away?"

"'Cause this one's a fighter," Raph stated and showed Mikey his hands, which were still covered in dozens of tiny scratch marks.

"Did he do that to your cheek too?" Mikey asked, with wide eyes.

Raph looked at Mikey with an unreadable expression.

"Yes," Raph answered sincerely.

"Cool…" Mikey said, and stared at the kitten in admiration as he picked it up. "He's really skinny, you know. We should give him some milk."

"Since when do we have milk?" Raph asked him, with a doubtful look.

"What about cream?"

"We have never had that."

"Wait! I know. Ice cream!"

Raph sighed, and didn't dignify that with an answer. Mikey seemed to come to think about something, and then turned to Raph.

"We better find him a nice home," Mikey told him. "He can't stay here after all."

Raph stared at his little brother in surprise.

"Is this you being serious, or sarcastic? I honestly can't tell," Raph said, with an uncertain look at Mikey.

"Dude, come on. I know you want to keep him, but we have to think about what's best for him," Mikey explained to silly little Raphael. "He's just a tiny kitten. Have you any idea of how dangerous it is for him here? We fight _all the time_. And what if he sneaks inside the dojo in the middle of training? And cats don't belong in the sewers. He was born on the topside, so he'll probably miss the sun and all that. And face it; it wouldn't be fair to Splinter, now, would it?"

"Huh," Raph said, not without looking a little impressed. "Can't say that I saw that coming. I must have finally knocked some sense into you."

"Raph…" Mikey said, and looked at his older brother. "I have, like, _no_ idea how you did this… Or _what_ you did exactly, for that matter. But thanks."

"Don't mention it," Raph answered with a smile, and gave Mikey a pat on the back. "And I mean it, _don't_ mention it. I don't do nice things, and just thinking about this makes me-"

Raph was interrupted by Mikey, who had put the kitten back in the bag, and suddenly wrapped his arms around his big brother in a heartwarming hug. Raph cringed and tried to pry off the clingy turtle, but quickly gave up with a tired look.

"… I'm fairly certain that I'm missing some vital information to the context here."

Raph froze and looked at the door, where Donnie was standing with the most bewildered expression at the tender moment. Raph freed himself from Mikey and then quickly zipped the bag close, hiding the kitten inside, while Mikey was looking back and forth between his brothers cheerfully. He wasn't sure what was going on, but was too happy to care.

"What the heck are you doing up?" Raph asked the taller turtle irritably. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"Because it's morning," Donnie explained, unimpressed. "Leo's making breakfast. If you want some, you better move it. We have about… Eight minutes to finish it before master Splinter starts hitting us with sticks."

Raph looked at his brother, and groaned in annoyance.

"Crud…" Raph muttered. "I forgot about the training."

"Looks like it's not the only thing you forgot. Have you even slept?" Donnie asked Raph, with a skeptic look at the other turtle. "I hope for your sake that you did. Splinter isn't gonna go easier on us just because we're sleepy."

While Donnie was talking, he was also observing the sports bag in Mikey's bed with a strange look.

"Is that what I think it is?" Donnie suddenly asked Raph.

"It's a sports bag, what else would it be?" Raph answered defiantly.

Almost on cue, the bag started to move, and mewing sounds were emerging from its insides.

"… Pregnant?" Donnie guessed, with a raised eyebrow.

Mikey instantly opened the bag to free the kitten, and then picked it up. He made it wave happily to Donnie, who just stared at it. His eyes big as hockey pucks.

"Alright, as much as I'd like to think that I'm starting to get some sort of conception of what is going on here," Donnie said, in a composed manner and turned to Raph. "I'd still like to ask: _where th__e heck did you get that kitten_!?"

"I found it," Raph answered honestly.

Donnie didn't take his eyes off his brother, and studied him closely.

"It's from the same litter as Klunk, isn't it?" Donnie asked Raph straight-faced. "The size indicates the same age, and I recognize the pattern of the stripes-"

"Look, socks!" Mikey interrupted, and made the kitten wave at Donnie again.

"Yes, yes. That's great, Mikey," Donnie said, but without taking his eyes off Raph. The red clad turtle just smiled at him, before giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Better hurry up, Donnie," Raph told him. "We only have six minutes to get some breakfast."

"Hey, Donnie," Mikey said, and picked up the kitten as he got up from the bed. "Do we have anything he'll like? I think he's really hungry, 'cause he keeps biting my finger."

"I think I saw some pizza crusts in the kitchen drawer," Donnie answered after a moment of thought. "Try to feed him that. Or, anything we have, for that matter. It's a stray. I doubt he'll be that picky… I'll think of something later."

"Sweet! Thanks, bro," Mikey said, and rushed out of his room with the kitten in a firm grip. Raph was just about to follow him, when Donnie suddenly put his hand on the doorframe, blocking the way.

"That's the same sports bag those thugs had," Donnie said, with a narrow look at his brother.

"If you say so," Raph answered, with a bored look.

"I _know_ so. I can smell the alcohol from here," Donnie told him. "Care to tell me how you came to acquire it?"

Raph just looked at Donnie, showing no interest in answering the question.

"You went back there, didn't you?" Donnie asked sternly. "You went back there, and you didn't plan for me to ever find out. This might come as a shock for you, but I'm actually not as stupid as you'd like to think."

"Well, well. Don't you know everything," Raph said, with a narrow look at his brother.

"I don't," Donnie said seriously. "But I know that it's most likely correlated to that cut on your cheek, which you think I haven't noticed, and the fact that I had to pick glass splinters from Leo's eyes the first thing in the morning."

Raph made a low chuckling sound, but Donnie didn't look the least amused.

"What the heck did you do?" Donnie asked.

"What does it look like?" Raph asked, and stopped laughing to give Donnie a subtle glare.

"It looks like you went back to that alley at some point, got into a fight, and that cut is gonna need stitches by the way. Forced those punks tell you where they killed those cats, I can only imagine how you did that, at which point you went there yourself, searched the place for who knows how long, and somehow managed to find one kitten that they didn't get their hands on. And you…"

Donnie went silent and stared at Raph as he slowly realized something.

"… You did all this for Mikey?"

Raph didn't make any attempt to answer him. Donnie stared at his brother in confusion, trying to figure something out.

"I…" Donnie started, but then sighed with a tired look. "… I _really_ don't get you sometimes."

"Tick, tick…" Raph said, as he moved Donnie's arm out of his way, and then turned to his brother with a grin. "… Boom."

"And that's supposed to help?" Donnie asked, with a doubtful look.

Raph laughed and playfully rubbed Donnie's head, making the taller turtle cringe at the rough treatment before quickly freeing himself.

"Don't worry about it, Don," Raph said, with an amused look. "You don't always have to understand everything."

The two brothers left Mikey's room and headed for the kitchen. Donnie was pondering over something and then turned to Raph.

"So… Are we keeping that cat or what?" Donnie asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, about that…" Raph said. "You might want to speed dial April and ask if her aunt would like a pet."

* * *

**AN**: That's all folks! And guys… You simply rock. Thank you for everything. Sincerely. I've had SO much fun writing this and reading all your comments, that one part of me never wanted to put this chapter up… I didn't want it to end just yet. XD

Please, if you have a few seconds to spare, tell me what you thought about this story. What did you like or dislike?

I hope you've enjoyed the ride, because I sure have. ^-^

(Also, I'm still quite bitten by the TMNT-bug, so you can expect new stories very soon. In case there's anyone who'd like to read more from me, that is. ^-^; And a last shoutout to n00btmntfan, for all her support (both grammatical and storywise). Thank you! And good luck. :) )


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